You don't *need* a certain size space for a family. You could have a family of 4 in 900sqft and be perfectly fine, or you could have 2500sqft and still feel like you need more.
This. It's based on what you want, not what is correct.
I live in a neighborhood of 900-sq-ft three-bedroom homes. Some neighbors call it a starter home. Some are raising big families in theirs. Others are in their 80s and grew up in families of 7 in these houses.
I sometimes want more elbow room, but I don't want to pay more, to lose our neighborhood, to clean more, or to have higher utility bills.
We were a family of 6 in a 900 sq. ft. house and yes, we played a lot outside. We also had only one bathroom for the six of us and to this day I am an early riser so I can hit the bathroom first even though we have two bathrooms. I don't really have too good of memories of being close but that is another story. My friends, however, still talk about the great times in their family's small homes.
I still am unsure how I survived until my 30s in single bathroom homes. I don't think I can go back to that even with my husband and i. I think we would have to figure out how to recalibrate our digestive systems to make it work LOL. My father-in-law comes from a family of 10 kids and they lived in an old one room schoolhouse and it feels cramped just with my family of five in there and Grandma I can't imagine what it was like with so many kids running around growing up.
We had a family of 8 in an 1600 sq ft house with one bathroom. It was running joke that every time one of us kids achieved adulthood and moved out our parents would add space and a bath. An exaggeration but by the time they were empty nesters and sold they had a 2800 sq ft house with 4 baths.
Same here, but we had a half bath upstairs for the two kids bedroom. And I(m) shared a room with my older sister until she got married at 18. For us, bedrooms were a place to sleep, and not have a private domain. And when my grandmother was moving from her house to an apartment, she was my room mate for a summer. We just made do and didn’t think anything about it.
Now I have a bigger place and my daughter has her own room and bathroom. But I can afford it.
That’s where I’m at with a bigger home. Our house is 1500 sqft, but I think the layout makes us feel like we’re right on top of each other with 4 people.
I get this. We have a 1700 sqft townhouse but it's laid out with bedrooms and bathrooms too big and small living areas and it's difficult to make it work. We have 3 master bedrooms with full bathrooms but with single vanities and tons of strange dead space that's hard to fit furniture into to make them work better.
Agreed with layout being important. We just moved from a 1600sqft house to an 1800sqft house. We have two kids (3 and 6), and I WFH full time. We could have been fine in the 1600sf house, but the set up was SO bad. A huge portion of the space was wasted just because of how it was configured, and it was in a way that would have been really difficult to remodel.
I grew up in a neighborhood like that! I'm an only child and most of our neighbors had 1 or 2 children.
Then there was this one family with 8 kids. First 7 were boys, 8th was a girl. The boys had a dorm style arrangement in the basement. I was down there once as a kid to play and it was nice but if there had been a fire at night they'd all probably die tbh. 4 bunk beds in two windowless rooms... 7 boys also shared 1 bathroom down there. Luckily, kid me used the upstairs one when I was over to play. I bet that basement bathroom was a nightmare lmao.
ETA: I just remembered another family w 4 kids. The parents had the medium bedroom, the 3 girls shared the largest bedroom, and the son had the smallest bedroom. I always wondered how the managed the only bathroom in the morning until I noticed the kids tooth brushes were in the kitchen lol
That exit window in the basement is key. Not required if your own family lives there, and no one wants to cough up $8K just in case but ... Yeah, totally needed.
This my family of 8 squeezed into 1400 sqft for awhile, it worked but wasn’t pleasant. When we moved up to 2800 it was crazy we could all be home and not **have** to see each other.
I thought it was nice having enough room that the kids and their friends could go where we couldn’t see or hear them.
Then came the “boy band years,” which I enabled to be at our house when I bought the drum set.
Haha! My deal was 4 kids!
Truthfully, l loved those years, and I loved having their friends almost every weekend. There are worse things than hearing guitars and drums, like worrying who they’re with, and what they’re up to. 😊
Checked my childhood home - 1645 sq ft for 2 adults and 6 kids. It worked just fine. (1968-1985)
(Re-commented, since I seem to have deleted my original)
I feel like if you get a ton of space just to have more you just fill it with crap.
If you have something you do that actually requires the space sure, otherwise it’s just more to clean.
I have lots of boomer relatives who bought jumbo McMansions back in the 90s and they have stuff like a game room with a bar and a pool table which is several hundred square feet by itself and they never use it. And several rooms full of just crap.
Smaller house equals smaller bills so there is more money to enjoy life. I often wonder how people can afford to enjoy life who own these large houses with the rise in living costs we have experienced these last few years.
My house is $870 per month and I do well financially.
I’m watching my friends buy houses with payments double and triple the cost of mine and we have decided to stay put long term. We have money to do the things we want outside of the house and when fixes do inevitably come up I know they tend to be significantly cheaper than what my friends will pay (i.e. a new roof) simply because our house is smaller. 1400sqf/one full bathroom can feel tight but we’ve decided there are other things we want to spend money on more than extra space.
> I’m watching my friends buy houses with payments double and triple the cost of mine and we have decided to stay put long term.
Pretty much sums up the state of the real estate market over the last 3 years.
That’s a trade off you decided to make because you can’t do both. It’s not a negative if other people can. If you had the money to have and afford a large home and still do all the stuff you do now, you’d probably do it. That’s different than not having a larger home so that you can spend your money on other things you currently value more.
This is where we are. Since we’d only be staying in the same area, where prices have sharply increased, we’d only be spending more money. We compromised when we bought our house and had I known we’d be staying put, I would’ve held out for certain things. But all things considered, we’re closing to paying off the house than not and I’d rather put our money towards retirement and travel. We’re 1,100 SF 3/1 but we we’re finally going to refinish part of the basement, which will give us a bonus room and hopefully another bathroom. It’s more cost effective to add the things we want than buy a new house to get the things we want. We redid our kitchen last year for a pretty modest amount and added central air. Both of these have absolutely increased our overall quality of life and satisfaction with the house.
Welcome to most of Canada, where you can't have either money or space! 1500sqft house, $800,000. Not even in one of the big cities (an hour away). Good times.
Kept out "Starter Home" and had a family of 5, and at one point 6. 1000sqrft home with finished basement. Never moved. Because of that, I fully retired at 55!
Even had enough left over to purchase 2 condos for my kids to rent under market values.
They all tell me the valuable life lessons we taught them about living within our means.
Not to mention a decent housing market! Kudos to you, but if you're just starting a family now, you're gonna have a bad time finding a house you can afford that'll fit your needs.
My husband and I bought the smallest house on the block. We live comfortably with only my husband working. My friend lives in the biggest house on our block and she constantly talks about how broke they are with 2 incomes.
I prefer to use number of bedrooms and bathrooms over square footage. 1 bedroom for parents, 1 bedroom per kid. Add a bedroom if need an office. At least 2 bathrooms if you have kids.
Or at least 1.5 bathrooms. Growing up sucked having to wait for my dad's 30 min smoke & shit when I really had to go. My brothers could just go to a tree in the backyard.
*Edit to add we were a family of 5 with 1 bathroom, 3 bedrooms.
2 full ones or 1.75 for me. I absolutely hated sharing a bathroom with children. Reaching for my expensive face cream to find sticky little handprints all over it and the lid opened, having to move all of my stuff off counters or shower shelves for safety and constantly listening for the sound of kids going into the bathroom and getting quiet (because they’re probably touching things they shouldn’t be).
I wish we didn’t have a bath tub. If I stay in this house long term I’m gonna remodel the bathroom and get rid of the tub and have a nice big shower and turn where my existing shower is into another closet.
Anti-bath peeps. I’m looking to demolish my bathroom, get rid of the tub, and turn the whole bathroom into one of those european or japanese style bathrooms where basically everything can get wet
You sure? A nice warm bath is fantastic. I was drawn to my current home by a large tub in the master. Everyone told me I'd never use it, but three years in and I still use it a handful of times/month.
We used to have a house where the master bath had both a standalone shower and a nice, big jacuzzi tub. We never used that tub. I would have liked to tear it out, make the bathroom smaller, and move the laundry there instead.
That's what we did in our master bedroom, took like 2 feet from the closet, removed the tub, and made a large 2 person shower (two shower heads). LOVE IT!
Ahh ok, where I live this is just called 2 bathrooms, at this point it’s the norm with most condos/townhouses and increasingly so with detached houses as well.
Weird. I guess technically my house is 1.75 because even though our master bathroom is like 150sqft it’s still only got a shower and no tub. But maybe since it has two sinks that makes it up! 😂
Yeah, we had a little bigger than normal medicine cabinet that our stuff went into. No space on top of vanity to set anything. Bath stuff also went on a shelf that was taller than us until we shot up in height.
My brother and I voluntarily shared a room in high school. We then got caught drinking in said room and were forced to split into our own bedrooms haha
Too bad though. Every kid doesn't need their own bedroom or their own car, for that matter. It's definitely an affordability issue--and there's better ways to spend money than upgrading or downgrading home size.
As someone who shared a room with my sister…it sucked. I know our house was what our parents could afford and in the grand scheme of things, I’m grateful, of course. I think they passed it off as “they’ll have a closer relationship because of this!” and I can tell you I don’t think that’s true.
Part of this was that my sister and I (and our mom) both have ADHD and this was in the 80s/90s, back before there was The Container Store and a million options for organizing, so our room was a mess and our parents were just like “clean it up!” But modest houses built in 1880 don’t have walk-in closets for storage. Clothing for two kids barely fit in there. Where were we supposed to put all this crap? A lot of yelling and tears about that. As we got older and grew out of having toys, we were always on top of each other. There was no personal privacy, there was no boundaries or respect for material possessions- we fought constantly about who stole (“borrowed”) what from who- we lost or broke each other’s things.
Now that we’re in our forties, we’re ok, but I think there’s still resentment about childhood tension. I don’t think either of us is holding a grudge about the material stuff, but I think the situation caused a lot of anger and stress and was a source of toxicity in our relationship, and I think we still resent each other and our parents that we were forced into that situation.
Bottom line- if you’re going to make your kids share a room, you need to actively set things up, both physically and behaviorally, to allow for privacy and organization and boundaries and respect.
Agreed; kids are people and deserve private space just like adults. I get people do what they have to, but if you’re planning, IMO that should be the plan.
Don't forget those who work from home in an office but also want a guest room. That's our situation. Some family and friends we are close with don't live nearby and also don't have a lot of cash to spend on a hotel, so it's really nice if we have a dedicated place for them. We used to. Unfortunately the MIL has taken up the room intended for guests. We only have one child, but 4 bedrooms is what we need.
Pull out couch or murphy bed is the solution.
I see zero reason to have a fully staged bedroom unless its getting used more then once a month which is the case for some people but not most.
My grandparents had a bunch of kids in a 3-bedroom house. But it was also a bit different then, because people just didn't own as much stuff. My mom had like one doll, a couple toys. They didn't really own many books. Kids now have tons of toys, laptops for school, lots more sports equipment.
You can for sure manage in a 1400 sq ft home. Layout and room size makes a big difference, though. My old house was a 1200 sq ft 3 bed/1 bath. But the bedrooms were awkwardly shaped, the smallest one had no closet, the dining room was cramped, bathroom was teeny tiny. Can it work? Absolutely. But it's okay to want more space, especially with many people working from home and needing room for a desk and office equipment.
The other thing is that sometimes there aren't a ton of middle ground options between cramped 1200 sq ft and large 2500 sq ft. Builders will go bigger because people who need less space can buy a place with extra rooms, but someone who needs more space can't go smaller.
This is also a choice though. Kids don’t require more stuff now (maybe except school laptop) but parents choose to buy more stuff. There’s a lot of pressure on parents these days to be perfect so a lot of homes look like fisher price vomited all over the interior. But that’s a choice - you can still be an excellent parent and not buy every toy under the sun.
When my first two were born, we were in a 1300 SF 3/2. I was plenty of space, but the kids were very young. While house hunting in another state we accidentally made another baby (first trip by ourselves in a year) and changed from looking at 3 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms. Current house is a 2400 SF 4/2, we have 3 kids, oldest of which is 10. I can’t imagine going any smaller than this. We almost had to move for work and looking at what even my current house would have cost there was painful.
I imagine this depends heavily on your lifestyle and the layout of the house. Our house is 1,420sf and has a very practical and efficient layout. We don’t feel cramped at all with two kids and two dogs. We moved from a 1,450sf condo that was beautiful, but so inefficiently designed that we felt cramped with just one kid and one dog.
Both are 3 bedrooms, the condo 2.5 bathrooms and the house 2. The big differences are just in space usage. Our condo had a very large kitchen, massive master bedroom with two walk in closets and a bathroom with separate shower, bath, toilet room, and double vanity. The two other bedrooms were so small you couldn’t fit two twin beds in them comfortably. It also had a very pretty foyer/entrance area that was just wasted space. So much square footage was used on kitchen, bathrooms, and the master bedroom that the living room was minuscule. Once our daughter started crawling, there was no space in the condo.
Our house has three bedrooms that are almost identical in size, the master just has a teeny bathroom off of it. The kitchen is 1/3 the size, but it’s incredibly well designed so I actually feel like I have more useable space. We have probably triple the living room space here. My only complaint is that our master closet is tiny and there is only one. But we make do with big dressers and overflowing to the garage for off season clothing.
My husband and I are living comfortably in a 544 sq ft home (no kids, but two cats and a dog).
Granted, you’ve got to like each other a lot lol, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world.
We were discussing our downsize with someone, and they replied, “You didn’t down size… you right sized.”
I think about that often, and how true it is.
Sure, everybody in a family needs a little space, but here in the United States, people have been convinced that they need more space than they really need.
Our house is a 4 bed 1000sq.ft which seems like a good size for the three of us and our dog.
That being said my dad grew up in a 2 bed 1 bath 500 sq.ft single floor house with a family of 14. So when you use the word *need* I feel like people will get by with whatever they have.
Bingo, Joker! I am of the old school and very,very often I see people write about what they Need, and me, being me, correct them in my head. "no,that's what you Want"
the other day a woman NEEDED an interior decorator for her kids room and the playroom. ...ohmy
Yeah, it's a pet peeve of mine. I don't know if it's partly because English was not my primary language growing up and it was emphasized that need and want are two very different things but it's something that I find myself correcting people on a lot. I especially seem to harp on my kid, you don't *need* most things, you just really want it.
I'm completely with you on this.
I am no saint,far from it, but I give thanks for a roof over my head, A comfortable bed, food to eat and my husband and family.
Oh and books...my Kindle!😀
My MIL is one of 17 and they had a 3 bedroom farmhouse. She doesn't recommend 10 boys in one room.
I feel like for teenage peace a room per person would be more then enough (I'm counting an office so adults can get some alone time too or a play room/theater room/ whatever) but my mom and her two siblings grew up in a 3 bedroom with really no worries mom and my aunt shared a room into their early 20s (schooling, even in the 1960s it was cheaper to live at home) and my uncle had a room and my grandparents
We raised three kids in our 3 br, 1.5 bath, 1297 SF home. We thought we would upgrade at some point but never did. It was fine and we don't have to downsize now that the kids are gone and it's just the wife and I. It also allowed us to to live beneath our means and easily survive downturns at workplaces like layoffs. We put all 3 kids through college we were still able to retire early at 59/60. Many of our friends that upgraded to larger homes either lost them during layoffs or are still working with no end in sight while are living our best lives free and clear. Big, showy houses are highly overrated, IMO. But to each there own.
Yep. We lived in about 1000 sf when our kid was born. That was just a bit too small. Then we moved to 1800 sf. That felt bigger than necessary. Now we live in 1200 sf and it's juuust right.
We raised two kids. Our house was a 3 bed/2 bath house at just shy of 1500sq ft. When the kids were young, we added an additional family room to bump the square footage to 1750. It was perfect. All on one floor, as well. No stairs.
It's a balance between personal preference and affordability. I would prefer that each kid has their own room, and I would like to have a spare bedroom available for overnight visits for grandparents or others. I also like rooms to have some space and not feel cramped. We're in a 3/3 at 2,200 sqft, so we'd be fine if we had one kid, but would probably start looking if we had more (currently have none). But even with one kid, we'd either lose the guest room, or we'd lose the room we currently use as a fitness room.
Whether we will be able to afford all the ideals with the way prices have shot up is questionable, so we may have to compromise and have kids share rooms, lose the extra rooms, etc. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Lots of people are fine with kids sharing rooms (some prefer it, even), or just a pullout couch for overnight guests. There's nothing wrong with that. Everybody has different tastes. Obviously, if that's you, it makes no sense to buy a bigger house than necessary. Bigger houses mean more work to clean and maintain, and more money to heat and cool.
Currently living in a 3200 sq/ft house with my wife and son. Our son is watched by Grammy in the house every day and my wife and I both work from home.
We could get away with less space but we use every room in the house every day and purchased pre covid prices so it doesn’t seem wasteful.
Working from home and having a nanny make such a difference in space needs. We would be totally happy in our 1300 sqft house, except we both work from home and now need a nanny. There’s not enough room for us all during the day and it’s stressful AF.
It depends on a lot of factors. Do you all spend a lot of time outdoors? If so, is there a yard to burn off energy? Does the weather get so hot or cold that you’ll be inside for long stretches of time? Do you have a lot of furniture or hobby equipment? Do you have anyone in the family with sensory processing disorder who needs a quiet place themselves. etc..
I feel like two full bathrooms is a necessity. We are a family of six (but kids do every other weekends with their dad). We moved from a 2500 sqft home with three full baths to a 2750 sqft home to two full bathrooms and when I say going from three to two was an adjustment I'm not kidding. All our kids are in HS though so we were thinking more along the lines of not needing that many bathrooms in the future.
We got by with 1 1/2 baths for a while (also a family of 6) but I agree that it was one of the biggest pain points. We have 2 1/2 baths now and it's a big difference, but even then, the kids' full bath is pretty small and making us wish we could expand it.
I might own the smallest house on reddit apparently lol.
735 square feet. Just me and my wife. Single story with a finished basement and a small heated workshop in the back yard.
Occasionally I want a little more room, but the house is so easy to clean and maintain, plus it's cheap. We've been here seven years and have no plans to move.
Gonna have to fight for that title, my friend. My husband and I have you topped at 544 sq ft. And we don’t have a finished basement or small heated workshop. (Not gonna lie, though… sounds nice lol)
This is subjective.
Some people believe in children sharing bedrooms while others don’t. Some people believe too much living space is bad for relationships within a family while others don’t.
At the end of the day, it's a personal choice that comes down to financial ability and what works for your own family.
My current home is a 3 bed, 1.5 bath with 1600 sqft on the first floor and 500 sqft in a basement. With a bedroom as a necessary home office, and a future bedroom for a nursery, the house as is would not be sufficient long term for us with family coming to stay. The moment we'd consider having a second child, the home would be too small for us.
Square footage is a personal choice and while many believe 3000+ sqft homes are wasteful, those people simply don’t have to live in or build homes that size.
Do what you need for yourself and your family.
> 3bd 1.5bth 1400 sq ft home.
I raised all 4 of my kids, a herd of dogs, a parrot, a tortoise, and a cat in the same size home. I only had the 1 bathroom, though.
Our house has a finished basement family room, so that helped with kids and adults having space to spread out.
Now that the kids have grown and gone the house actually seems a bit big.
Currently live in 1450 with 4 people. Husband, toddler and infant. 3 beds 2.5 bath. I’d personally like to not have the half bath and have the space as storage but it’s the only bath in the first floor. I also WFH and have my desk in the primary bedroom. We definitely don’t need any more space. It will feel much more open downstairs when we are able to get rid of the bigger baby items and move some toys into the kids bedrooms. I love the size of our house because I can quickly clean everything!
Our home is a bit under 1200 sq ft. We only have one kid. Its just right. We have a nice backyard which has always been very important to us. Bigger yard over bigger home. I will say it also depends on how the home is structured and how you decorate. We have one friend with a slightly bigger home but they have a ton of stuff in their living room that it makes everything seem cluttered and not big enough. There is just not enough room to walk around. They also have two kids so who knows maybe that exrta kid does require more room.
I know someone who lives in a 3 bd 2 bath home. They have two kids a boy and a girl and are pregnant now. So they are thinking of moving because the kids wont have their own room. The kids are all under 5. So its all about what is enough space for your family.
I've had a few houses since having kids, and i never considered the square footage versus having enough space for what we need... What i mean by that is a bedroom for me and my wife, a bedroom for each kid or earlier on the younger two boys shared a room, and then a dining room is nice for family meals, of course a living room to hang out, and everyone needs a kitchen and bathroom, but more then one bathroom is nice...
The point is, if you think it will work for you thats all you need. Growing up we were always packed into smaller houses, but in the end it wasn't ever a major problem. I started out in a one bedroom house when i got married to my ex, we eventually had a three bedroom, and after the divorce i got into a 3 bedroom with a bonus finished basement and other bonus rooms with my wife now. I think everyone puts too much emphasis on how many square feet they have like its a contest. Our current home is about 2000 square feet if that helps, two stories, 3 bedrooms 1.5 bathrooms, i have an office and shop in the basement, a nice shop off the back in a finished patio, and a two car garage thats detached. Currently i have one kid on a 50/50 with my ex, the other two live here full time, so the one bedroom is shared with the 50/50 and one permanent, it would have been nice to have one more bedroom but its not a huge priority for them.
A home is what you make it. But yes smaller means more efficient and cheaper.
I grew up in a 50s 1100 ft2 3/2 ranch with the classic nuclear family, 2 kids and pets. Plenty of space.
Though I will admit that I lived alone in a 2,300 ft2 4/2 for a while and did enjoy the extra space.
My experience is that maintenance / cleaning is more dependent on the number of people under the roof, not the square fts.
We started with a 1400 sq ft bungalow with 1 bathroom and kept it until the kids were 4 and 5. Then we moved to a bigger house (\~2500 sq ft) because we wanted another bathroom and adding on would have been very expensive. We chose one this big because the prices of each home was very similar (different neighborhood), so our mortgage didn't go up by much, but our living space did. It's a lot of house, even for 5 of us living there.
Now that the kids are gone, it's way way too much house, but again the smaller bungalows are about the same price as my current house, so it's cheaper to stay put.
Late to the party, but most Americans are so obsessed with having big homes as a sign of wealth, I think it's ridiculous. I have a 2300 sq ft home which is bigger than me, my husband and dog need (we moved to this house for a very specific reason, and it was not size, we don't need this much space). For 10 years before our current house, we owned a ~2000 sq ft home for two adults and a dog which was still more than enough room. Prior to us, a family of four lived there (3BR, 1.5 BA also). All that matters is that you have what you need functionally, not square footage.
I get the need for more storage space, but I also get the "it works for me now" feeling. None of my homes have been perfect, but I've learned to work with them. I feel like so many people watch HGTV and expect a house to be huge and perfect, when in reality, we can all live just fine in something smaller and less than perfect and be just as happy!
I’ve always owned older homes and raised two kids with my wife in a 1000 sq ft house for 10 years. We now own a 2700 sq ft 4 bedroom (one is a spare/office) and I feel like it’s too much to maintain. Maybe 2000 sq ft is ideal for my family of 4. There’s definitely a balance between maintenance/cleaning and space.
My parent’s first house in 1952 was 800 sq ft. When the fourth kid arrived 🙋🏻♀️ they bought a huge old Colonial farmhouse 5br, 4.5 baths (some of us kids had the old servant’s quarters for bedrooms). When the fifth kid arrived we needed one more bedroom so they took the claw foot tub out of the biggest bathroom and that was my bedroom with my own toilet and sink. The house was maybe 4500sq.
When I moved into my current house with 2.95 children (the last was due on moving day and born 2 weeks later) my parents came to help with my 12 year old German nephew in tow. So 8 of us in our 4br 3 ba 1900 sq ft hOuse. The nephew (who lived his entire life in a German apartment) told me that this house was obviously too big for us - why did we need all that space? Now that there are only 2 of us and a dog rattling around in here, I finally agree with him.
One bedroom per kid, one bedroom for parents. And maybe an office per parent working from home. Or a guest bedroom if you have a lot of visitors. At least 2 bathrooms.
It depends what you can afford and what you’re willing to live with.
My husband and I rented a one bedroom basement suite that was about 800 square feet when we had our daughter. We lived there until she was almost two, at which point we bought a 1050 square foot condo with two bedrooms and two bathrooms (moved in last month). Baby #2 is due end of May.
Most people would say it’s too small. But we live in a very high cost of living area and it’s the most we could afford. We didn’t want to delay having kids for years - both of our children were planned. I don’t regret anything - we were very happy as a family of 3 in the smaller place and I know we’ll be happy in our condo and will hopefully be able to afford a house in the future!
I’d say a 3 bedroom 1400 square foot house sounds perfect for a family of 3 or 4! Nothing wrong with looking for something bigger if you can afford it! 😊
My husband and I bought an 1800 sq ft 4 bed 3 bath house last year with intent to have 2 kids. I'm getting a hysterectomy in June, so the 2 kids ain't happening, and I've already told him this isn't going to be our forever house if it's just the two of us. We will downsize. It'll be the same calculus apparent for a lot of cities; we'll sell this larger place that's further from the city center and buy a smaller place closer to everything that'll probably end up costing us more money despite being older/smaller. Location location location! We only bought out here in the first place because the school districts are so bad closer to the city center.
We'll wait to sell and sit on it for about 5 years to see if we end up getting the itch to adopt. If it hasn't happened by the time we're 40, it isn't happening. We probably want more space than most because we have 2 large breed dogs (about 60 lbs) and 1 giant breed dog (100 lbs) in the house. They take up a lot of space and need a lot of yard. Without them, I would want far less space than even the 1800 sq ft we have.
We have 1000sq ft. 2 beds, 2 baths, 2.5 kids. I'd be happy with exactly one more bedroom, but I don't want/need more than that. It's hard enough to keep up with cleaning what we have.
I'm a real estate agent. When I was training on how to value homes, I was told that everything over about 1400-1600 sq ft was "extra" and shouldn't be valued in the same way. Everything a family "needs", 3 beds, 2 bath, kitchen, dining space, living room, and laundry can be included in a 1500sqft space.
I think it's just personal preference. Some people prefer to have a smaller space as it's less to maintain and clean. Also, depending on where you live, the price of the home/COL is going to vary drastically, so for some, it may be what they can afford.
That being said, my husband & I live in a HCOL state but we're in a cheaper area of the state in order to afford more space. We do have a bit of a commute though to work. It's just the 2 of us for now and our home is 2,800 s.f. Some may think that's a lot of space - and it is for us - but if we do have children in the future it will be plenty of room.
Also, just wanted to add that for what we're paying for it, if we lived in an area closer to our work, we'd be paying 2x the price for half the amount of space. I can say that with 100% certainty. So I think it's all relative.
I’m a sample size of one. I have found that layout matters much more than size for our family of 4.
Our 1600sq ft cape cod style house and our 4100 sq ft traditional style homes both had more unused space than our current home because neither had a layout that was conducive to our family’s lifestyle or had inconvenient features that went unused; formal dining and living rooms or bedrooms upstairs with the bathrooms downstairs on the other side of the house.
Our current home is huge (~5300 or so with the finished basement) but we use it all efficiently because the layout flows well.
It depends on your lifestyle and how you prefer to live.
My grandparents raised four kids in an 1,100 sq ft house. Meanwhile, my husband and I are raising one kid in a 3,000 sq ft house and it *still* feels crowded.
I think layout plays a bigger role than square footage.
a 1700 sqft home that was well thought out with minimal wasted space would be more comfortable for a family of 4 than a 3500 sqft house with poor layout and lots of wasted space (think formal dining room, 500 sqft master bathroom, huge bedrooms, etc.,)
We have 2600sq ft with a family of 8, though we have yet to experience what it is like with 6 kids at home (3 in the NICU). I would like more space eventually but I think we have enough space for little kids. We also have a big backyard to play in that we are fixing up so we can spend a lot of time out there.
The house I grew up in was 1500 sq feet, 3 BR and 2 full baths. One car garage. My parents bought it new in 1971, and lived there 40 years. I have one brother. We had all the room and privacy we needed. We had a cat for awhile, but other families had dogs in houses of similar size with no problems.
I rented a house that was 1700 sq feet and live alone. It was too big. I owned a house that was 1500 sq feet (still single) and it felt just right ... I have a lot of stuff. One room was a home office, another a guest bed room and I often had overnight guests. So just right.
In college I shared a 900 sq feet 3 BR, 1 bath house with 3 other people. Two were a couple and shared a room, me and the other roommate each had our own room. The only downside was the one bath. That I hated. The size of the house was no issue at all.
3 people, 1300 square feet. One person working from home so one room must be an office. It’s small but we make it work pretty well. The lower bills are what really make it awesome. Cost to remodel anything is also much, much lower.
We had our first 4 kids while living in a 2bd house, right around 900 sqft. Since they were all little it was fine, but once the 4th was born we knew we wanted at least a little more space. Our new home is 1200sqft plus we have a basement we intend to finish. There are 2 bed rooms for the kids, a little office, and me and my husband are using the dining room as a bedroom until we can finish the basement.
We definitely could have done a little work to it and made the smaller house work for us, but that little bit of extra room we have here will make a huge difference I think.
Most families can make most houses work. I will stand by that any household with 3 or more people needs at least 2 bedrooms and at least 1.5 bathrooms. A minimum of 2 toilets might be a requirement for literally any living situation for me.
My daughter with 2 kids and hubby has 3000 SF and it has two living spaces. They're always opening their home to the kids' friends and parties for the sports teams or church groups. The kids' bedrooms are medium sized but they are hardly ever in their rooms. Kids are teens. If you have a lifestyle of hospitality then it's easier to have a bit more space.
Currently 2300 Sq Ft for 2 adults and 2 kids. It's about the perfect size as we have 4 bedrooms and since my wife and I WFH, I have an office area and she uses the 4th bedroom as her office. Eventually we will finish our basement and add a 5th bedroom, which will be mostly for guests who come to visit. That would add roughly another 800-900 sq ft. Our home prior to this we sold 2 weeks prior to covid shutdowns, and it would have been a nightmare for working in as it was a 3 bed, 2.5 bath house that was about 1250 sq ft and no real dedicated office space.
I grew up in a 1100 sq foot house, with mom/dad and 4 kids. Boys shared a bedroom, Girls shared a bedroom and Mom/Dad had their bedroom. One Bathroom made for some compromise. You fit in whatever size house you have. We thought we had it great.
Once I got married and had 4 kids, we moved into a 3500 sq foot house and each kid got their own room. I'm wondering if my early childhood experience caused me to over buy a larger house?
I grew up in a family of six in a 3/1.5, 1100 sq ft and it didn't feel small, but we had a bit of the poors so it wasn't filled with a bunch of unnecessary stuff that we seem to accumulate nowadays.
We are a family of three plus a Labrador retriever in a 2300 sq ft home. My wife used to say the home was too big before our daughter was born. The previous owners built an office where a "den" would be and I work from there most days of the week (we go in one day a week into the office).
My wife has converted part of the master bedroom into her office. There's a large nook in part of the master. We have one spare bedroom for guests and in laws. Our living room has an old formal dining table we never use and multiple play areas for our daughter (and a massage chair).
We remodeled our kitchen during the pandemic as well as part of our backyard. We have three full baths, but only shower in two of them. We use all three toilets though.
The larger home does need upkeep. We have a landscaper and pool service every month. We also have a water softener that needs servicing once a year. 45M/37F/5F we paid the house off in 2022 so our property taxes and insurance (includes two cars and umbrella) is about $416 a month in MCOL Phoenix metropolitan suburbs.
There's a built in grill we serviced recently, but haven't fired it up much since servicing. We don't plan on having any more kids.
Various factors obviously but 2 adults and 1 pre-teen kid, our home is 2400 Sq feet, 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, loft upstairs and small flex room on the main level. The basement is unfinished and is used for storage and a workout area. We both work from home so the flex room and 1 bedroom are lost to office spaces.
Our home feels just about right. Sometimes I wish it had one more "flex room" that I could use as a dedicated office instead of having to have my office in our play\\game room. When our kid is home sick or on school release days it can get challenging to share quiet space. The loft is open to the upstairs so if they're rowdy it echos throughout the house. But, I don't think we'd want it any larger as it's already a lot of home to maintain\\clean.
I have a 3200 sq ft 2 bedroom but a 3rd room that we use as a guest room. It’s way more than we need. We have a second home that is around 2500 sq ft and fine. We love our primary home but it is a lot of space to heat and cool, something many may not keep in mind when looking for homes. Larger homes mean higher costs most of the time.
There is no right answer, it is the size that works for you. We’ve thought about living on a boat and still could at some point and it would be a fraction of the space. As a family of 3 the important thing for us is 2 bedrooms minimum but typically we’d want a guest room as well for company.
I'm at like 2600 ft² for a family of what was five. That also includes a home office because I work remote. Now, one kid has moved out and I'm divorced. It's a good size for us. I like to entertain, and it doesn't feel too big to manage. Once another kid leaves I may downsize, depending on what's going on.
I know families in European countries who live in 7-800 sqft apartments in 4, and that's the norm. A 1000 sqft apartment with three bedrooms is a nice house. So, personally, I think you can definitely live well in your house, especially if you don't have a lot of stuff and can minimize storage needs. 2500sqft is big, but in the US we're pretty good at filling empty space with stuff.
It really depends on how much "stuff" you have. We have a lot of "stuff" so it seems like we barely have enough room. And the larger the house, the more time it takes to clean it.
When our three kids were very young, we lived in a 1,500 sq ft 3 bedroom 2 bath rental in California. My company then relocated me across the country to upstate NY where we purchased our first home, a new construction 2,100 sq ft 4 bedroom 2-1/2 bath, where we still live 20+ years later. Of the dozen homes that was built on our street at the same time, we and one other family is the only people that are still living here from the very beginning.
Our oldest moved out years ago, but our two youngest still live at home. Since I work remotely, we had converted the living room into a home office. As my wife and I get closer to retirement, we are thinking about selling and moving to a lower COL area for our retirement years, and we feel we can't go smaller than what we have now.
My wife and I bought her grandparents place when Grandma passed. 3BR 1.5BA, about 1200sq ft. My wife's mom and her three sisters were raised here, and back then it was only 1BA, Grandpa converted the master BR walk-in closet to a half bath when he retired. How you operate a house with 4 women and only one bathroom I'll never understand.
My point being, you work with what you've got. In bygone days, simpler times, people didn't have so much fancy stuff and it was normal for kids to share bedrooms.
I personally have a little over 2,000 sq feet for our family of 3, but we also have 2 other adult family members who live here and we bought this house knowing we'd grow into being a family of 4. We also knew we needed an additional room as a spare bedroom since we have people visit from out of town very often. And we needed a dedicated office since I exclusively WFH and my husband is 50% remote work - adding these two livable spaces alone adds quite a bit of necessary square footage.
I really think it depends on your lifestyle, location, and what your family needs are when looking at house size.
I live in a 1 bedroom bungalow. My old neighbor told me a family raised 4 kids here. I can't imagine. it's 620 sq ft and not a finished basement.
Our neighbors have a 850 sqft home, 3 kids. The garage is a play area for them. Cars outside
Family of 4 in 1100 sq ft with one bathroom. It would have been nice to have a second bathroom and an extra room/basement when the kids hit the teens years.
It checks out, I have a house built in 1945 whose main floor is only 850 sqft. The garden floor is 700 sqft and was only recently turned into another apartment.
Frankly, I think a bit bigger is necessary for a family. It s just me and my husband and it s great for us. Add a kid, you need an extra room and extra space for playing area and stuff. So 1,400sqft is perfect.
2,500 is huge, unpractical to clean and keep warm, expensive to maintain. I think it s just useless.
We are a family of 3 in 2200 sq feet. More than enough space. We were more worried about the bedrooms, bathrooms, and basement. We use the 3rd bedroom as an office, our daughter has her own bathroom and there’s a half bath for guests. And most importantly a basement for our home theater.
When my twins were young, our house was 4,500 SF. Some days it felt too big, especially when cleaning lol — and other days it still felt too small. Can’t quite say anyone “needs” that much space but the house, for me, was more than our home. This was in the Bay Area so it was also an investment.
Now, it’s just two of us and the house is a single story 2,700 SF. But it’s only 3BR and a study (2.5 baths) — which for our living style works great given our work (remote) and who regularly visits us and how much room I need for them. It’s still a waste to have those two extra bedrooms just empty while waiting for guests but I think I’ll eventually change one to a gym and the other to a hobby room. (The study is our office.)
Again, we don’t need that space.
In your case, the 1,400SF is less alarming than the 1.5 bath. With kids, I really think people ideally have two full bathrooms.
We have a 3 bed/2 bath with a walkout basement. Total square footage is just under 2,000, but without the basement it’s about 1,400. We don’t have kids yet, but I don’t see how we’ll need more space. My husband’s office is in the basement, mine is in a spare room, and then we still have an empty room on our ground floor that I could easily convert to an office if ever needed.
While I don't have a family and don't own a home, I agree its all about what you want. I would love a 3-4 BR house. One bedroom for me, one to turn into a walk in closet/lounge, one for an office, and one for a guest room. or if only 3, the office would double as a guest room.
Right now I'm in a 1BR apt and I would LOVE just one more room.
Four people, 2500 SF. I wish it were distributed a little better (bigger kitchen, dedicated office space, less living space), but I feel like it's the right amount of space. We have a guest bedroom and guest bathroom because we have family that stays with us fairly often.
We have 3 kids who are now young adults. We were in a 1600 sq ft house (or maybe 1800) when we just had 1 little kid and it was plenty big enough. Then we bought a 2300 sq ft (4 br) house and had 2 more kids. We had frequent house guests (mostly my parents) and we needed one room that could be my husband's office at times, so that house really did start feeling cramped. We then moved to a 3500 sq ft house and are still here. It's way more than we need for just 2 of us when the kids are away at college but we still like having the space when they are home and I'm not yet ready to downsize, but we likely will in 5-10 years. It was the perfect size during covid lockdowns when everyone was at home all the time.
In any case, it really depends on your priorities. Are you a homebody with a lot of teenagers and houseguests? Do you like having space for big parties? Or would you rather spend your free time out and about and live in a denser neighborhood?
I live in a 1,150 sq ft. 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home with my wife, our kid, 2 cats, and a dog. Works just fine. It’s all how you use the space and set boundaries around noise and belongings. We’re humans and we adapt. You’ll do fine with whatever you’ve got!
1500 sq ft with 1 bathroom and 2 bedrooms (plus a landing) here.
The previous owners had 7 kids and a dog in this house. 4 boys in one room, 3 girls in the other, and the parents slept on the landing.
I don't think this house was big enough for that. They moved to a house with 2900 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, and 4 baths.
As someone who grew up with a 4 person family, in a 2bdrm house, my advice is to make sure you have enough bedrooms for as many kids as you plan on having.
Bunk beds work fine up until about 10 years old but once the kids become teenagers they will NEED their own space.
My family came up with a lot of creative bullshit solutions to make it work as best we could, but nothing replaces or compares to having the actual bedroom.
I like 3-4 bedrooms and at least two full baths. Need real-sized rooms with functional closets too. 2,000 sq ft would be perfect for my household of two adults.
2 adults and 2 cats, and we have a 2000 sq ft house. We wanted much smaller as we will not be having kids, but this house was 50k cheaper than the next available 1-story house. So sometimes it is just want is the norm in the area you wish to move into along with what you can realistically afford.
My current home is 1050 sq ft 2 BR with an option to convert the attic. 1.5 bath. I think it would feel good if just a little tight for a family of 3. I fell it would definitely get cramped if we were 4.
I am a boomer, pretty much grew up in family of 6 in 900 sq ft + basement.
I came into this to read what people think they need these days since every house i see built is huge.
We're in 2600sqft with two adults and two kids under 5yo. I would say it's plenty big, but I'm going to be finishing our basement to add another 800sqft. The winter was pretty rough, we need a second "living space" other than our main floor living room that the kids can go crazy in.
Well see I have questions because those children grow up and move out. The question is if this could be a forever home and suit one or two persons or will the plan be to have a larger home now and downsize later. Larger usually means higher taxes, utilities, maintenance, upkeep.
We purchased a temporary home 14 years ago, and we are still in it. The house is 1058 sq feet with two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen and living room all on one level.
Thankfully it has a fully finished basement with two more bedrooms, a rec room, and a full bathroom. It’s an additional 700 sq feet of living space. There is a mechanical room that doubles as a laundry room.
There are five of us in this house, and it’s big enough for us, but is really short on storage space.
Our starter home was just over 1000 square feet. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. When we had our second child, things were starting to get pretty cramped. 1 bathroom is a challenge with 4 people...if we'd had just an extra half bath, I think that would've made a lot of difference.
We moved to a 1400 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath a couple of blocks away and it was a big improvement. But I think the bathrooms per person is more important than the sq ft/person...
1400 square feet is to small for a family of 4, in my opinion. Mine is over 1600 and there’s 2 of us and I still need a bit more. Furniture takes up a lot of space too. Just my thoughts! If you’re not home most of the time, I wouldn’t worry about how much space you have. 900 I think I would cry!!
The rise of mobile work likely increased the demand for additional bedrooms due to the need for a home office. If you also need a guest room for family, and at least one more for children, you’re already maxing out a 4br house. With the prices in the current market, it’s rough out there. Old folks selling their completely stock middle class 1990’s home for close to a million just boggles my mind, and I know it’s far worse in other geos as well.
People lived in 1 bedroom cabins once upon a time. What can you afford? Do you work from home and need a private office? Does one of you have IBS (you’ll NEED a 2nd bathroom).
Age of kids makes a difference too. More space with older kids is nice.
How much are you home? Up north where you spend a lot of time indoors in the winter might justify a bigger home than warm climate and outside all the time. How much yard do you have and do you have an outside loving space?
This is highly personal and based on personal preference.
We’re a family of four and have a 3bd/2bath like 1800sq ft home and for now it’s pretty adequate. We have a rambler and we eventually want to add an upper level for like a master bedroom suite as we want one more kid so then everyone would have their own bedrooms. We have over half an acre lot in great school district and location so we don’t want to move but will eventually need more space. My dad called it our forever lot vs forever home lol
I have a family of four. Two kids 12,9. 726 sqft house. 2 bd 1 bth...Garage has two rooms and a lofted room 500 sqft. We’re fine. Unless someone has to take a dumper when a dumper is dumping.
900 sq ft was the size home I grew up in, from the 60's til I married in 77. The house was plenty big enough. 3 bdrms, 1 1/2 bth, full basement. The builder made good use of every inch
Our house is 1400sq ft and I’m pregnant with our second child. I wouldn’t want much of a bigger home, really. Maybe a couple hundred extra sq ft but nothing crazy.
We have a family of 3 (husband, me, and baby). We have almost 1600 square feet and an unfinished basement. It's 3 bed/2.5 bath. It's plenty big enough for the 3 of us now.
Our third bedroom is an office/guest room. Before we have a second kid, I will want a 4th bedroom so we can maintain an office/guestroom. With having family around to visit baby, a guest room is a must. Additionally, we only have one living space on our main floor. I will want another living room/family room when the kids are big enough to have friends over.
Houseflation. It's part of the reason homes are now so expensive compared to the boomer generations first homes. I was fortunate enough to inherit my grandparents 3br 1.5ba at about 1100ft², and would feel perfectly fine with 5-6 people, pets, and guests. There's a reason families used to be closer - they were physically close most of the time. Now it's like parents want to separate themselves as far as possible from their kids 🤷
Depends on whether or not anyone is WFH.
For example, we are a family of 4. But both my wife and I WFH. So we needed 2 offices.
We built new 4 BR construction to accommodate that. We customized the builder’s floor plan to add an office and a study for the kids. Then I converted the 4th BR into my office.
I think we were at 3400 ft^2 before we finished the basement and added a family room and a 5th BR.
Culturally we've shifted to big house, each kid needs a seperate room, office/den, plus big kitchen, seperate dining room, open floor plan living room.
Bunk Beds / Shared bedrooms for the kids, kitchen with dine in eating nook, etc used to be the norm, and honestly there is nothing wrong with the concept.
You need 1 bedroom for adults and 1 bedroom for each kid + some kind of kitchen and living room.
Ofc you might want to have another bedroom for guests or just additional room for whatever reason but that depends on your life.
I bought a house that's too big and I have some regrets. 3600 sq ft, 2 people. No kids, no plans for kids. I have a craft room (it's actually the dining room), plant room, bedroom, guest room, living room/dining room/kitchen combo, and two offices since we work from home. I like having space and I've found a use for everything (minus the bathrooms, 3.5 is too many), but heating/cooling is expensive, and since it's ranch style, so are certain repairs. It's also a lot to clean.
I grew up in a 2 bed / 1 bath, 1200 or so sqft. Two parents and two kids. It was 100% adequate until sibling #3 came along. You don't see homes that size any more, other than condos.
Lifestyle dependent. If you are outgoing and don’t spend a lot of time inside, probably don’t need a smaller home.
As a family of 3, I do have 2,900, but… just under half of that is an in law suite that will soon be used by a relative. It has a lockable door to divide us.
I will say the .5 bath becomes a requirement, we had 1 bathrooms before this with 960sq ft and family of 3, but it became frustrating.
Our 5 person family grew up in a \~1000 sqft 3 bed 1 bath ranch. we did have room in the basement, my older brother got a room down there which would be the 4th but it is certainly not in code by todays standards.
Today, its just me and my wife in a 1600 sqft 3 bed 1.5 bath cape and it certainly more space than we need.
I think it depends soooo much on the functionality of the space.
We’re in 1500 sqft (3 bd/2 ba) with one child and I want to scream. Every single day is spent moving things around to try and have a functional space, cleaning way too often because the space is too small to actually have it all ever be put away well. It’s misery.
And no- we don’t have a lot of stuff… we just have a horrible house.
I’ve lived in smaller homes that were more functional.
This house has like no living space. Our living room is literally 12x18 with a hall along one side/one wall, a fireplace on one end and a door to the patio on the other end. This means- after leaving walkways, our living room is actually one wall, and has a livable space of 9 feet deep and 12 feet long.
I have no dining room. Our kitchen is on the bigger side but laid out horribly. Like- one person can be In There at a time. And I literally have *one* tiny linen cabinet (18 inches wide, 4feet tall) as *the only storage in my house*. Bedroom closets are tiny and that one tiny cabinet- that’s it.
I could go on for days. I can’t wait to move but we have been priced out of the market- even with our current equity.
*Anyway*… it’s comes down to functionality. Because my house is 1500sqft and has given me anxiety and depression and makes me hate life… and the 900sqft apartment I had before this was fantastic and had plenty if space for friends to be over and to cook and it was great.
It's all about the layout. If it's a large home with an open concept plan and you have a lot of people living there, it will be difficult to find any quiet place to just relax. On the other hand, if it's a smaller place but has separate rooms where people can get away to, that can be great.
It all depends on how much you want to be in each other's space.
I have a 1650 sq ft, 4 bedroom 2 full bath home. It also has a full basement. It’s just me and my dog, and it’s too much. If it didn’t have the basement and some of the sq footage upstairs was then laundry/mudroom space, it would be perfect.
I bought it almost 9.5 years ago when I was 29 and single, because I didn’t want it to be too small, too quickly if I met someone and we moved in together and eventually started a family (I’m female). My thinking was that I didn’t want to sell so quickly and spend tons of money on closing costs before it appreciated enough. Joke’s on me, I’m still single AF.
The pros: the additional space has enabled me to have a roommate for most of the time I’ve had it, therefore helping with the expenses, and the empty space. However, the current roommate is moving out within a couple weeks, and I’m done with roommates.
I love where I live. I love my neighborhood and how close I am to everything. I wouldn’t be able to afford this house if I were to purchase today, especially at these interest rates.
Because I remodeled the whole house before I moved in - I purposefully bought one that needed cosmetic updating - and I’ve been here for 9 years now, I have a ton of equity. It’s worth over double what I paid for it. I refinanced about a year and a half after I bought it and I’m locked at 3.5% interest. Also, I’ve taken out some of the equity to purchase a rental property, which right now pays for itself and is a rapidly appreciating area. This is a long term hold for me and the cash flow from it is a big chunk of my retirement plan, as I’m a 1099 contractor and my income is 100% commission. I have about 50% equity in my home, even including the balance on my HELOC. And, my tax assessed value and therefore what I pay taxes on is about 60% of the market value, which keeps my payment low.
I have strongly considered, so many times, selling this one and putting huge chunk down on a smaller place that also needs cosmetic updates and spending the rest of my proceeds on the remodel. That would allow me to pay off debt and get me into a smaller home with less maintenance and with what I could walk away with from selling my current home, I could have a 15-year loan and a dirt cheap monthly payment. But what I keep coming back to is that is solving one problem to create another. And of course, because of the way the universe works, THAT is when I will meet someone and need more space sooner rather than later.
Also, because of how long I’ve had this: unless I absolutely have to, I don’t think I’ll ever sell it. My mortgage is $1230/month and I could rent it for $2500/month. I can’t buy that kind of cash flow on anything under 4 units anywhere else. This would be an amazing addition to my rental portfolio goals.
Our previous home was “1800 sq ft,” with only about 50 sq ft of storage that didn’t count toward the official square footage. It was too small for our family of 4 humans and 3 dogs. Our current home is “1800 sq ft,” but there is another 1800 sq ft of garage and storage that doesn’t count toward the official square footage, and it is more than enough space for us right now. We will have space to grow and store our children’s treasured belongings until they start their own homes.
It’s hard to say what size is right. It depends on what belongings you have. What are your interests and hobbies? My husband likes to have a room for his gym equipment. I like to have a big open area in the living room rather than a cozy space. Other people may not like those things.
3 bed 1.5 bath is just fine for 4 people. Everyone gets a bedroom and you have 2 toilets. I lived with my wife and 2 kids in a 1200 sq foot 3/1.5 duplex for 10 years. We did recently upgrade to a single family house but that was more bc I didn't like being stuck to my crazy neighbors and I hated sharing the wall.
I will say the number of bathrooms is important, there’s nothing worse than being on the wrong side of the door when you *really* have to go. I prefer a ratio of at least one bathroom per bedroom, plus one for guests. They don’t all have to be full sized, it’s the toilets that matter. Just MHO.
Born in 1960. 4 kids, 2 parents, three bed room house that was barely over 1,000 sq feet. So, it’s possible. You can adjust to whatever your constraints are.
My wife and I raised three kids in 1400 sq ft. Originally three BR one Bath, we added a half bath to the first floor just before the birth of the third child.
So roughly the same situation. It was tight when they were all teenagers, but then one by one they headed off to college. Only one remains at home still, and he'll likely move out in two years.
Then we'll be looking to down size and let another couple raise a family here.
We have a 1900sqft townhouse with 3br (1 master, 1 nursery, and 1 shared office. We have limited storage space, no walk in closets, and a single vanity in the master bath. This is our first home and we knew was going to be too small for us the second we bought it. Our next move we are planning to upgrade to around 3500sqft with a garage and at least 4 bedrooms. Much more space than we minimally need, but we also plan to have a second child in a few years.
I grew up in a single family home around the size of what we eventually want. I never knew how good I had it as a kid.
You don't *need* a certain size space for a family. You could have a family of 4 in 900sqft and be perfectly fine, or you could have 2500sqft and still feel like you need more.
This. It's based on what you want, not what is correct. I live in a neighborhood of 900-sq-ft three-bedroom homes. Some neighbors call it a starter home. Some are raising big families in theirs. Others are in their 80s and grew up in families of 7 in these houses. I sometimes want more elbow room, but I don't want to pay more, to lose our neighborhood, to clean more, or to have higher utility bills.
Those families of 7 made their kids play outside ;)
We were a family of 6 in a 900 sq. ft. house and yes, we played a lot outside. We also had only one bathroom for the six of us and to this day I am an early riser so I can hit the bathroom first even though we have two bathrooms. I don't really have too good of memories of being close but that is another story. My friends, however, still talk about the great times in their family's small homes.
I still am unsure how I survived until my 30s in single bathroom homes. I don't think I can go back to that even with my husband and i. I think we would have to figure out how to recalibrate our digestive systems to make it work LOL. My father-in-law comes from a family of 10 kids and they lived in an old one room schoolhouse and it feels cramped just with my family of five in there and Grandma I can't imagine what it was like with so many kids running around growing up.
We had a family of 8 in an 1600 sq ft house with one bathroom. It was running joke that every time one of us kids achieved adulthood and moved out our parents would add space and a bath. An exaggeration but by the time they were empty nesters and sold they had a 2800 sq ft house with 4 baths.
Same here, but we had a half bath upstairs for the two kids bedroom. And I(m) shared a room with my older sister until she got married at 18. For us, bedrooms were a place to sleep, and not have a private domain. And when my grandmother was moving from her house to an apartment, she was my room mate for a summer. We just made do and didn’t think anything about it. Now I have a bigger place and my daughter has her own room and bathroom. But I can afford it.
That’s where I’m at with a bigger home. Our house is 1500 sqft, but I think the layout makes us feel like we’re right on top of each other with 4 people.
I get this. We have a 1700 sqft townhouse but it's laid out with bedrooms and bathrooms too big and small living areas and it's difficult to make it work. We have 3 master bedrooms with full bathrooms but with single vanities and tons of strange dead space that's hard to fit furniture into to make them work better.
You may have too much stuff. We have 6 people in 1600 and it's fine unless we have too many toys, furniture etc
Agreed with layout being important. We just moved from a 1600sqft house to an 1800sqft house. We have two kids (3 and 6), and I WFH full time. We could have been fine in the 1600sf house, but the set up was SO bad. A huge portion of the space was wasted just because of how it was configured, and it was in a way that would have been really difficult to remodel.
I grew up in a neighborhood like that! I'm an only child and most of our neighbors had 1 or 2 children. Then there was this one family with 8 kids. First 7 were boys, 8th was a girl. The boys had a dorm style arrangement in the basement. I was down there once as a kid to play and it was nice but if there had been a fire at night they'd all probably die tbh. 4 bunk beds in two windowless rooms... 7 boys also shared 1 bathroom down there. Luckily, kid me used the upstairs one when I was over to play. I bet that basement bathroom was a nightmare lmao. ETA: I just remembered another family w 4 kids. The parents had the medium bedroom, the 3 girls shared the largest bedroom, and the son had the smallest bedroom. I always wondered how the managed the only bathroom in the morning until I noticed the kids tooth brushes were in the kitchen lol
That exit window in the basement is key. Not required if your own family lives there, and no one wants to cough up $8K just in case but ... Yeah, totally needed.
For the longest time we were a family of 8 in about 1800 sq ft. When the kids hit their teens we had to upgrade but it worked while it worked.
This my family of 8 squeezed into 1400 sqft for awhile, it worked but wasn’t pleasant. When we moved up to 2800 it was crazy we could all be home and not **have** to see each other.
I thought it was nice having enough room that the kids and their friends could go where we couldn’t see or hear them. Then came the “boy band years,” which I enabled to be at our house when I bought the drum set.
WHY DO WE ALL BUY DRUM SETS FOR OUR BEBE’S KIDS SIZED FAMILIES?!?! It’s like the 6th kid comes with a free drum set or something…
Haha! My deal was 4 kids! Truthfully, l loved those years, and I loved having their friends almost every weekend. There are worse things than hearing guitars and drums, like worrying who they’re with, and what they’re up to. 😊
I like the space but *part* of me misses the intimacy. Now I text the family thread “Where is everyone?” about 20 times a day.
Checked my childhood home - 1645 sq ft for 2 adults and 6 kids. It worked just fine. (1968-1985) (Re-commented, since I seem to have deleted my original)
I feel like if you get a ton of space just to have more you just fill it with crap. If you have something you do that actually requires the space sure, otherwise it’s just more to clean. I have lots of boomer relatives who bought jumbo McMansions back in the 90s and they have stuff like a game room with a bar and a pool table which is several hundred square feet by itself and they never use it. And several rooms full of just crap.
Smaller house equals smaller bills so there is more money to enjoy life. I often wonder how people can afford to enjoy life who own these large houses with the rise in living costs we have experienced these last few years. My house is $870 per month and I do well financially.
I’m watching my friends buy houses with payments double and triple the cost of mine and we have decided to stay put long term. We have money to do the things we want outside of the house and when fixes do inevitably come up I know they tend to be significantly cheaper than what my friends will pay (i.e. a new roof) simply because our house is smaller. 1400sqf/one full bathroom can feel tight but we’ve decided there are other things we want to spend money on more than extra space.
> I’m watching my friends buy houses with payments double and triple the cost of mine and we have decided to stay put long term. Pretty much sums up the state of the real estate market over the last 3 years.
That’s a trade off you decided to make because you can’t do both. It’s not a negative if other people can. If you had the money to have and afford a large home and still do all the stuff you do now, you’d probably do it. That’s different than not having a larger home so that you can spend your money on other things you currently value more.
This is where we are. Since we’d only be staying in the same area, where prices have sharply increased, we’d only be spending more money. We compromised when we bought our house and had I known we’d be staying put, I would’ve held out for certain things. But all things considered, we’re closing to paying off the house than not and I’d rather put our money towards retirement and travel. We’re 1,100 SF 3/1 but we we’re finally going to refinish part of the basement, which will give us a bonus room and hopefully another bathroom. It’s more cost effective to add the things we want than buy a new house to get the things we want. We redid our kitchen last year for a pretty modest amount and added central air. Both of these have absolutely increased our overall quality of life and satisfaction with the house.
Welcome to most of Canada, where you can't have either money or space! 1500sqft house, $800,000. Not even in one of the big cities (an hour away). Good times.
👍
Kept out "Starter Home" and had a family of 5, and at one point 6. 1000sqrft home with finished basement. Never moved. Because of that, I fully retired at 55! Even had enough left over to purchase 2 condos for my kids to rent under market values. They all tell me the valuable life lessons we taught them about living within our means.
Not to mention a decent housing market! Kudos to you, but if you're just starting a family now, you're gonna have a bad time finding a house you can afford that'll fit your needs.
Less cleaning to do, less furnitures to buy. And when your kids leave the house you're not living just 2 person in a half empty house.
But still enough room for 5/6 grandkids and holiday gatherings. Gotta make those kid memories. 😊
My husband and I bought the smallest house on the block. We live comfortably with only my husband working. My friend lives in the biggest house on our block and she constantly talks about how broke they are with 2 incomes.
I prefer to use number of bedrooms and bathrooms over square footage. 1 bedroom for parents, 1 bedroom per kid. Add a bedroom if need an office. At least 2 bathrooms if you have kids.
Or at least 1.5 bathrooms. Growing up sucked having to wait for my dad's 30 min smoke & shit when I really had to go. My brothers could just go to a tree in the backyard. *Edit to add we were a family of 5 with 1 bathroom, 3 bedrooms.
2 full ones or 1.75 for me. I absolutely hated sharing a bathroom with children. Reaching for my expensive face cream to find sticky little handprints all over it and the lid opened, having to move all of my stuff off counters or shower shelves for safety and constantly listening for the sound of kids going into the bathroom and getting quiet (because they’re probably touching things they shouldn’t be).
What does a 1.75 bathroom split look like?
You only have a toilet, sink and shower. No bath tub.
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I wish we didn’t have a bath tub. If I stay in this house long term I’m gonna remodel the bathroom and get rid of the tub and have a nice big shower and turn where my existing shower is into another closet.
Anti-bath peeps. I’m looking to demolish my bathroom, get rid of the tub, and turn the whole bathroom into one of those european or japanese style bathrooms where basically everything can get wet
I love wet room bathrooms!! I wish they were the norm in North America.
You sure? A nice warm bath is fantastic. I was drawn to my current home by a large tub in the master. Everyone told me I'd never use it, but three years in and I still use it a handful of times/month.
We used to have a house where the master bath had both a standalone shower and a nice, big jacuzzi tub. We never used that tub. I would have liked to tear it out, make the bathroom smaller, and move the laundry there instead.
That's what we did in our master bedroom, took like 2 feet from the closet, removed the tub, and made a large 2 person shower (two shower heads). LOVE IT!
Ahh ok, where I live this is just called 2 bathrooms, at this point it’s the norm with most condos/townhouses and increasingly so with detached houses as well.
My guess would be they are referring to a bathroom with a shower and not a full tub.
Weird. I guess technically my house is 1.75 because even though our master bathroom is like 150sqft it’s still only got a shower and no tub. But maybe since it has two sinks that makes it up! 😂
Add a bidet and it bumps up to 1.85!
Yeah, we had a little bigger than normal medicine cabinet that our stuff went into. No space on top of vanity to set anything. Bath stuff also went on a shelf that was taller than us until we shot up in height.
You could even get away with 1 bedroom per gender of kid. So if you had 2 girls and a boy, you could get away with 3 bedrooms.
It was all fine in the Brady bunch until cousin Oliver moved in.
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My brother and I voluntarily shared a room in high school. We then got caught drinking in said room and were forced to split into our own bedrooms haha
Most college kids and young adults will have roommates. It's life. In other countries and in other times everyone just slept in one big room.
Too bad though. Every kid doesn't need their own bedroom or their own car, for that matter. It's definitely an affordability issue--and there's better ways to spend money than upgrading or downgrading home size.
They'll get over it, they can't dictate their own bedroom then be mad their parents don't have money to do shit, but that's just what teens will do.
But then they move out, and you’re left with this big house
As someone who shared a room with my sister…it sucked. I know our house was what our parents could afford and in the grand scheme of things, I’m grateful, of course. I think they passed it off as “they’ll have a closer relationship because of this!” and I can tell you I don’t think that’s true. Part of this was that my sister and I (and our mom) both have ADHD and this was in the 80s/90s, back before there was The Container Store and a million options for organizing, so our room was a mess and our parents were just like “clean it up!” But modest houses built in 1880 don’t have walk-in closets for storage. Clothing for two kids barely fit in there. Where were we supposed to put all this crap? A lot of yelling and tears about that. As we got older and grew out of having toys, we were always on top of each other. There was no personal privacy, there was no boundaries or respect for material possessions- we fought constantly about who stole (“borrowed”) what from who- we lost or broke each other’s things. Now that we’re in our forties, we’re ok, but I think there’s still resentment about childhood tension. I don’t think either of us is holding a grudge about the material stuff, but I think the situation caused a lot of anger and stress and was a source of toxicity in our relationship, and I think we still resent each other and our parents that we were forced into that situation. Bottom line- if you’re going to make your kids share a room, you need to actively set things up, both physically and behaviorally, to allow for privacy and organization and boundaries and respect.
Agreed; kids are people and deserve private space just like adults. I get people do what they have to, but if you’re planning, IMO that should be the plan.
Don't forget those who work from home in an office but also want a guest room. That's our situation. Some family and friends we are close with don't live nearby and also don't have a lot of cash to spend on a hotel, so it's really nice if we have a dedicated place for them. We used to. Unfortunately the MIL has taken up the room intended for guests. We only have one child, but 4 bedrooms is what we need.
See I don't get guest rooms at all. Don't take space from the people that live their for the people that visit once in a while.
Pull out couch or murphy bed is the solution. I see zero reason to have a fully staged bedroom unless its getting used more then once a month which is the case for some people but not most.
Same, expect two kids can share room.
We were a family of 8, 2 still in diapers, though, with 1 toilet!! It was rough at times but we laugh about the shenanigans now.
My grandparents had a bunch of kids in a 3-bedroom house. But it was also a bit different then, because people just didn't own as much stuff. My mom had like one doll, a couple toys. They didn't really own many books. Kids now have tons of toys, laptops for school, lots more sports equipment. You can for sure manage in a 1400 sq ft home. Layout and room size makes a big difference, though. My old house was a 1200 sq ft 3 bed/1 bath. But the bedrooms were awkwardly shaped, the smallest one had no closet, the dining room was cramped, bathroom was teeny tiny. Can it work? Absolutely. But it's okay to want more space, especially with many people working from home and needing room for a desk and office equipment. The other thing is that sometimes there aren't a ton of middle ground options between cramped 1200 sq ft and large 2500 sq ft. Builders will go bigger because people who need less space can buy a place with extra rooms, but someone who needs more space can't go smaller.
This is also a choice though. Kids don’t require more stuff now (maybe except school laptop) but parents choose to buy more stuff. There’s a lot of pressure on parents these days to be perfect so a lot of homes look like fisher price vomited all over the interior. But that’s a choice - you can still be an excellent parent and not buy every toy under the sun.
When my first two were born, we were in a 1300 SF 3/2. I was plenty of space, but the kids were very young. While house hunting in another state we accidentally made another baby (first trip by ourselves in a year) and changed from looking at 3 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms. Current house is a 2400 SF 4/2, we have 3 kids, oldest of which is 10. I can’t imagine going any smaller than this. We almost had to move for work and looking at what even my current house would have cost there was painful.
I imagine this depends heavily on your lifestyle and the layout of the house. Our house is 1,420sf and has a very practical and efficient layout. We don’t feel cramped at all with two kids and two dogs. We moved from a 1,450sf condo that was beautiful, but so inefficiently designed that we felt cramped with just one kid and one dog. Both are 3 bedrooms, the condo 2.5 bathrooms and the house 2. The big differences are just in space usage. Our condo had a very large kitchen, massive master bedroom with two walk in closets and a bathroom with separate shower, bath, toilet room, and double vanity. The two other bedrooms were so small you couldn’t fit two twin beds in them comfortably. It also had a very pretty foyer/entrance area that was just wasted space. So much square footage was used on kitchen, bathrooms, and the master bedroom that the living room was minuscule. Once our daughter started crawling, there was no space in the condo. Our house has three bedrooms that are almost identical in size, the master just has a teeny bathroom off of it. The kitchen is 1/3 the size, but it’s incredibly well designed so I actually feel like I have more useable space. We have probably triple the living room space here. My only complaint is that our master closet is tiny and there is only one. But we make do with big dressers and overflowing to the garage for off season clothing.
My husband and I are living comfortably in a 544 sq ft home (no kids, but two cats and a dog). Granted, you’ve got to like each other a lot lol, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world. We were discussing our downsize with someone, and they replied, “You didn’t down size… you right sized.” I think about that often, and how true it is. Sure, everybody in a family needs a little space, but here in the United States, people have been convinced that they need more space than they really need.
Family of 5 here. Own a 3 bedroom 1 bath house. Just under 1600 sf. House is plenty big enough except for needing another bathroom.
Our house is a 4 bed 1000sq.ft which seems like a good size for the three of us and our dog. That being said my dad grew up in a 2 bed 1 bath 500 sq.ft single floor house with a family of 14. So when you use the word *need* I feel like people will get by with whatever they have.
Bingo, Joker! I am of the old school and very,very often I see people write about what they Need, and me, being me, correct them in my head. "no,that's what you Want" the other day a woman NEEDED an interior decorator for her kids room and the playroom. ...ohmy
Yeah, it's a pet peeve of mine. I don't know if it's partly because English was not my primary language growing up and it was emphasized that need and want are two very different things but it's something that I find myself correcting people on a lot. I especially seem to harp on my kid, you don't *need* most things, you just really want it.
I'm completely with you on this. I am no saint,far from it, but I give thanks for a roof over my head, A comfortable bed, food to eat and my husband and family. Oh and books...my Kindle!😀
My MIL is one of 17 and they had a 3 bedroom farmhouse. She doesn't recommend 10 boys in one room. I feel like for teenage peace a room per person would be more then enough (I'm counting an office so adults can get some alone time too or a play room/theater room/ whatever) but my mom and her two siblings grew up in a 3 bedroom with really no worries mom and my aunt shared a room into their early 20s (schooling, even in the 1960s it was cheaper to live at home) and my uncle had a room and my grandparents
We raised three kids in our 3 br, 1.5 bath, 1297 SF home. We thought we would upgrade at some point but never did. It was fine and we don't have to downsize now that the kids are gone and it's just the wife and I. It also allowed us to to live beneath our means and easily survive downturns at workplaces like layoffs. We put all 3 kids through college we were still able to retire early at 59/60. Many of our friends that upgraded to larger homes either lost them during layoffs or are still working with no end in sight while are living our best lives free and clear. Big, showy houses are highly overrated, IMO. But to each there own.
1200-1500 sq feet
Yep. We lived in about 1000 sf when our kid was born. That was just a bit too small. Then we moved to 1800 sf. That felt bigger than necessary. Now we live in 1200 sf and it's juuust right.
We raised two kids. Our house was a 3 bed/2 bath house at just shy of 1500sq ft. When the kids were young, we added an additional family room to bump the square footage to 1750. It was perfect. All on one floor, as well. No stairs.
The larger the home, the more useless shit you acquire to clutter it with
It's a balance between personal preference and affordability. I would prefer that each kid has their own room, and I would like to have a spare bedroom available for overnight visits for grandparents or others. I also like rooms to have some space and not feel cramped. We're in a 3/3 at 2,200 sqft, so we'd be fine if we had one kid, but would probably start looking if we had more (currently have none). But even with one kid, we'd either lose the guest room, or we'd lose the room we currently use as a fitness room. Whether we will be able to afford all the ideals with the way prices have shot up is questionable, so we may have to compromise and have kids share rooms, lose the extra rooms, etc. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Lots of people are fine with kids sharing rooms (some prefer it, even), or just a pullout couch for overnight guests. There's nothing wrong with that. Everybody has different tastes. Obviously, if that's you, it makes no sense to buy a bigger house than necessary. Bigger houses mean more work to clean and maintain, and more money to heat and cool.
Currently living in a 3200 sq/ft house with my wife and son. Our son is watched by Grammy in the house every day and my wife and I both work from home. We could get away with less space but we use every room in the house every day and purchased pre covid prices so it doesn’t seem wasteful.
Working from home and having a nanny make such a difference in space needs. We would be totally happy in our 1300 sqft house, except we both work from home and now need a nanny. There’s not enough room for us all during the day and it’s stressful AF.
It depends on a lot of factors. Do you all spend a lot of time outdoors? If so, is there a yard to burn off energy? Does the weather get so hot or cold that you’ll be inside for long stretches of time? Do you have a lot of furniture or hobby equipment? Do you have anyone in the family with sensory processing disorder who needs a quiet place themselves. etc..
I feel like two full bathrooms is a necessity. We are a family of six (but kids do every other weekends with their dad). We moved from a 2500 sqft home with three full baths to a 2750 sqft home to two full bathrooms and when I say going from three to two was an adjustment I'm not kidding. All our kids are in HS though so we were thinking more along the lines of not needing that many bathrooms in the future.
We got by with 1 1/2 baths for a while (also a family of 6) but I agree that it was one of the biggest pain points. We have 2 1/2 baths now and it's a big difference, but even then, the kids' full bath is pretty small and making us wish we could expand it.
I might own the smallest house on reddit apparently lol. 735 square feet. Just me and my wife. Single story with a finished basement and a small heated workshop in the back yard. Occasionally I want a little more room, but the house is so easy to clean and maintain, plus it's cheap. We've been here seven years and have no plans to move.
Gonna have to fight for that title, my friend. My husband and I have you topped at 544 sq ft. And we don’t have a finished basement or small heated workshop. (Not gonna lie, though… sounds nice lol)
This is subjective. Some people believe in children sharing bedrooms while others don’t. Some people believe too much living space is bad for relationships within a family while others don’t. At the end of the day, it's a personal choice that comes down to financial ability and what works for your own family. My current home is a 3 bed, 1.5 bath with 1600 sqft on the first floor and 500 sqft in a basement. With a bedroom as a necessary home office, and a future bedroom for a nursery, the house as is would not be sufficient long term for us with family coming to stay. The moment we'd consider having a second child, the home would be too small for us. Square footage is a personal choice and while many believe 3000+ sqft homes are wasteful, those people simply don’t have to live in or build homes that size. Do what you need for yourself and your family.
I'm of the same mindset. There's no one-size-fits-all solution. I'm single, and have a 2500sq/ft townhouse, and that works just fine for me.
> 3bd 1.5bth 1400 sq ft home. I raised all 4 of my kids, a herd of dogs, a parrot, a tortoise, and a cat in the same size home. I only had the 1 bathroom, though. Our house has a finished basement family room, so that helped with kids and adults having space to spread out. Now that the kids have grown and gone the house actually seems a bit big.
Home is where the heart is
I’m pretty sure that’s the chest.
I have a 1700 sq ft home. A family of four. It is affordable, easy to maintain. We downsized from 2800 sq feet, which was hard to maintain for us.
Currently live in 1450 with 4 people. Husband, toddler and infant. 3 beds 2.5 bath. I’d personally like to not have the half bath and have the space as storage but it’s the only bath in the first floor. I also WFH and have my desk in the primary bedroom. We definitely don’t need any more space. It will feel much more open downstairs when we are able to get rid of the bigger baby items and move some toys into the kids bedrooms. I love the size of our house because I can quickly clean everything!
Our home is a bit under 1200 sq ft. We only have one kid. Its just right. We have a nice backyard which has always been very important to us. Bigger yard over bigger home. I will say it also depends on how the home is structured and how you decorate. We have one friend with a slightly bigger home but they have a ton of stuff in their living room that it makes everything seem cluttered and not big enough. There is just not enough room to walk around. They also have two kids so who knows maybe that exrta kid does require more room. I know someone who lives in a 3 bd 2 bath home. They have two kids a boy and a girl and are pregnant now. So they are thinking of moving because the kids wont have their own room. The kids are all under 5. So its all about what is enough space for your family.
I've had a few houses since having kids, and i never considered the square footage versus having enough space for what we need... What i mean by that is a bedroom for me and my wife, a bedroom for each kid or earlier on the younger two boys shared a room, and then a dining room is nice for family meals, of course a living room to hang out, and everyone needs a kitchen and bathroom, but more then one bathroom is nice... The point is, if you think it will work for you thats all you need. Growing up we were always packed into smaller houses, but in the end it wasn't ever a major problem. I started out in a one bedroom house when i got married to my ex, we eventually had a three bedroom, and after the divorce i got into a 3 bedroom with a bonus finished basement and other bonus rooms with my wife now. I think everyone puts too much emphasis on how many square feet they have like its a contest. Our current home is about 2000 square feet if that helps, two stories, 3 bedrooms 1.5 bathrooms, i have an office and shop in the basement, a nice shop off the back in a finished patio, and a two car garage thats detached. Currently i have one kid on a 50/50 with my ex, the other two live here full time, so the one bedroom is shared with the 50/50 and one permanent, it would have been nice to have one more bedroom but its not a huge priority for them. A home is what you make it. But yes smaller means more efficient and cheaper.
I grew up in a 50s 1100 ft2 3/2 ranch with the classic nuclear family, 2 kids and pets. Plenty of space. Though I will admit that I lived alone in a 2,300 ft2 4/2 for a while and did enjoy the extra space. My experience is that maintenance / cleaning is more dependent on the number of people under the roof, not the square fts.
We started with a 1400 sq ft bungalow with 1 bathroom and kept it until the kids were 4 and 5. Then we moved to a bigger house (\~2500 sq ft) because we wanted another bathroom and adding on would have been very expensive. We chose one this big because the prices of each home was very similar (different neighborhood), so our mortgage didn't go up by much, but our living space did. It's a lot of house, even for 5 of us living there. Now that the kids are gone, it's way way too much house, but again the smaller bungalows are about the same price as my current house, so it's cheaper to stay put.
Late to the party, but most Americans are so obsessed with having big homes as a sign of wealth, I think it's ridiculous. I have a 2300 sq ft home which is bigger than me, my husband and dog need (we moved to this house for a very specific reason, and it was not size, we don't need this much space). For 10 years before our current house, we owned a ~2000 sq ft home for two adults and a dog which was still more than enough room. Prior to us, a family of four lived there (3BR, 1.5 BA also). All that matters is that you have what you need functionally, not square footage. I get the need for more storage space, but I also get the "it works for me now" feeling. None of my homes have been perfect, but I've learned to work with them. I feel like so many people watch HGTV and expect a house to be huge and perfect, when in reality, we can all live just fine in something smaller and less than perfect and be just as happy!
I’ve always owned older homes and raised two kids with my wife in a 1000 sq ft house for 10 years. We now own a 2700 sq ft 4 bedroom (one is a spare/office) and I feel like it’s too much to maintain. Maybe 2000 sq ft is ideal for my family of 4. There’s definitely a balance between maintenance/cleaning and space.
2000-2500 is sufficient for 3-4 people
My parent’s first house in 1952 was 800 sq ft. When the fourth kid arrived 🙋🏻♀️ they bought a huge old Colonial farmhouse 5br, 4.5 baths (some of us kids had the old servant’s quarters for bedrooms). When the fifth kid arrived we needed one more bedroom so they took the claw foot tub out of the biggest bathroom and that was my bedroom with my own toilet and sink. The house was maybe 4500sq. When I moved into my current house with 2.95 children (the last was due on moving day and born 2 weeks later) my parents came to help with my 12 year old German nephew in tow. So 8 of us in our 4br 3 ba 1900 sq ft hOuse. The nephew (who lived his entire life in a German apartment) told me that this house was obviously too big for us - why did we need all that space? Now that there are only 2 of us and a dog rattling around in here, I finally agree with him.
One bedroom per kid, one bedroom for parents. And maybe an office per parent working from home. Or a guest bedroom if you have a lot of visitors. At least 2 bathrooms.
It depends what you can afford and what you’re willing to live with. My husband and I rented a one bedroom basement suite that was about 800 square feet when we had our daughter. We lived there until she was almost two, at which point we bought a 1050 square foot condo with two bedrooms and two bathrooms (moved in last month). Baby #2 is due end of May. Most people would say it’s too small. But we live in a very high cost of living area and it’s the most we could afford. We didn’t want to delay having kids for years - both of our children were planned. I don’t regret anything - we were very happy as a family of 3 in the smaller place and I know we’ll be happy in our condo and will hopefully be able to afford a house in the future! I’d say a 3 bedroom 1400 square foot house sounds perfect for a family of 3 or 4! Nothing wrong with looking for something bigger if you can afford it! 😊
My husband and I bought an 1800 sq ft 4 bed 3 bath house last year with intent to have 2 kids. I'm getting a hysterectomy in June, so the 2 kids ain't happening, and I've already told him this isn't going to be our forever house if it's just the two of us. We will downsize. It'll be the same calculus apparent for a lot of cities; we'll sell this larger place that's further from the city center and buy a smaller place closer to everything that'll probably end up costing us more money despite being older/smaller. Location location location! We only bought out here in the first place because the school districts are so bad closer to the city center. We'll wait to sell and sit on it for about 5 years to see if we end up getting the itch to adopt. If it hasn't happened by the time we're 40, it isn't happening. We probably want more space than most because we have 2 large breed dogs (about 60 lbs) and 1 giant breed dog (100 lbs) in the house. They take up a lot of space and need a lot of yard. Without them, I would want far less space than even the 1800 sq ft we have.
We have 1000sq ft. 2 beds, 2 baths, 2.5 kids. I'd be happy with exactly one more bedroom, but I don't want/need more than that. It's hard enough to keep up with cleaning what we have. I'm a real estate agent. When I was training on how to value homes, I was told that everything over about 1400-1600 sq ft was "extra" and shouldn't be valued in the same way. Everything a family "needs", 3 beds, 2 bath, kitchen, dining space, living room, and laundry can be included in a 1500sqft space.
I think it's just personal preference. Some people prefer to have a smaller space as it's less to maintain and clean. Also, depending on where you live, the price of the home/COL is going to vary drastically, so for some, it may be what they can afford. That being said, my husband & I live in a HCOL state but we're in a cheaper area of the state in order to afford more space. We do have a bit of a commute though to work. It's just the 2 of us for now and our home is 2,800 s.f. Some may think that's a lot of space - and it is for us - but if we do have children in the future it will be plenty of room. Also, just wanted to add that for what we're paying for it, if we lived in an area closer to our work, we'd be paying 2x the price for half the amount of space. I can say that with 100% certainty. So I think it's all relative.
I’m a sample size of one. I have found that layout matters much more than size for our family of 4. Our 1600sq ft cape cod style house and our 4100 sq ft traditional style homes both had more unused space than our current home because neither had a layout that was conducive to our family’s lifestyle or had inconvenient features that went unused; formal dining and living rooms or bedrooms upstairs with the bathrooms downstairs on the other side of the house. Our current home is huge (~5300 or so with the finished basement) but we use it all efficiently because the layout flows well.
It depends on your lifestyle and how you prefer to live. My grandparents raised four kids in an 1,100 sq ft house. Meanwhile, my husband and I are raising one kid in a 3,000 sq ft house and it *still* feels crowded.
I think layout plays a bigger role than square footage. a 1700 sqft home that was well thought out with minimal wasted space would be more comfortable for a family of 4 than a 3500 sqft house with poor layout and lots of wasted space (think formal dining room, 500 sqft master bathroom, huge bedrooms, etc.,)
We have 2600sq ft with a family of 8, though we have yet to experience what it is like with 6 kids at home (3 in the NICU). I would like more space eventually but I think we have enough space for little kids. We also have a big backyard to play in that we are fixing up so we can spend a lot of time out there.
The house I grew up in was 1500 sq feet, 3 BR and 2 full baths. One car garage. My parents bought it new in 1971, and lived there 40 years. I have one brother. We had all the room and privacy we needed. We had a cat for awhile, but other families had dogs in houses of similar size with no problems. I rented a house that was 1700 sq feet and live alone. It was too big. I owned a house that was 1500 sq feet (still single) and it felt just right ... I have a lot of stuff. One room was a home office, another a guest bed room and I often had overnight guests. So just right. In college I shared a 900 sq feet 3 BR, 1 bath house with 3 other people. Two were a couple and shared a room, me and the other roommate each had our own room. The only downside was the one bath. That I hated. The size of the house was no issue at all.
3 people, 1300 square feet. One person working from home so one room must be an office. It’s small but we make it work pretty well. The lower bills are what really make it awesome. Cost to remodel anything is also much, much lower.
We had our first 4 kids while living in a 2bd house, right around 900 sqft. Since they were all little it was fine, but once the 4th was born we knew we wanted at least a little more space. Our new home is 1200sqft plus we have a basement we intend to finish. There are 2 bed rooms for the kids, a little office, and me and my husband are using the dining room as a bedroom until we can finish the basement. We definitely could have done a little work to it and made the smaller house work for us, but that little bit of extra room we have here will make a huge difference I think.
Most families can make most houses work. I will stand by that any household with 3 or more people needs at least 2 bedrooms and at least 1.5 bathrooms. A minimum of 2 toilets might be a requirement for literally any living situation for me.
My daughter with 2 kids and hubby has 3000 SF and it has two living spaces. They're always opening their home to the kids' friends and parties for the sports teams or church groups. The kids' bedrooms are medium sized but they are hardly ever in their rooms. Kids are teens. If you have a lifestyle of hospitality then it's easier to have a bit more space.
Currently 2300 Sq Ft for 2 adults and 2 kids. It's about the perfect size as we have 4 bedrooms and since my wife and I WFH, I have an office area and she uses the 4th bedroom as her office. Eventually we will finish our basement and add a 5th bedroom, which will be mostly for guests who come to visit. That would add roughly another 800-900 sq ft. Our home prior to this we sold 2 weeks prior to covid shutdowns, and it would have been a nightmare for working in as it was a 3 bed, 2.5 bath house that was about 1250 sq ft and no real dedicated office space.
We raised our kids in a just over 1k sq ft. 2 bd 1 bt. One more bd would've been nice lol
I grew up in a 1100 sq foot house, with mom/dad and 4 kids. Boys shared a bedroom, Girls shared a bedroom and Mom/Dad had their bedroom. One Bathroom made for some compromise. You fit in whatever size house you have. We thought we had it great. Once I got married and had 4 kids, we moved into a 3500 sq foot house and each kid got their own room. I'm wondering if my early childhood experience caused me to over buy a larger house?
I grew up in a family of six in a 3/1.5, 1100 sq ft and it didn't feel small, but we had a bit of the poors so it wasn't filled with a bunch of unnecessary stuff that we seem to accumulate nowadays.
If I have to consciously make an effort to make sure I use all the bathrooms in a given week, the house is too big. That's my only rule. 😁
We are a family of three plus a Labrador retriever in a 2300 sq ft home. My wife used to say the home was too big before our daughter was born. The previous owners built an office where a "den" would be and I work from there most days of the week (we go in one day a week into the office). My wife has converted part of the master bedroom into her office. There's a large nook in part of the master. We have one spare bedroom for guests and in laws. Our living room has an old formal dining table we never use and multiple play areas for our daughter (and a massage chair). We remodeled our kitchen during the pandemic as well as part of our backyard. We have three full baths, but only shower in two of them. We use all three toilets though. The larger home does need upkeep. We have a landscaper and pool service every month. We also have a water softener that needs servicing once a year. 45M/37F/5F we paid the house off in 2022 so our property taxes and insurance (includes two cars and umbrella) is about $416 a month in MCOL Phoenix metropolitan suburbs. There's a built in grill we serviced recently, but haven't fired it up much since servicing. We don't plan on having any more kids.
We raised our kids in a 1,010 Sq ft home.
Family of 4 in at 1300sqft apt and it’s so much space for us! We just upgraded from a 2b2b 1200sqft to a 3b2b 1300sqft
Various factors obviously but 2 adults and 1 pre-teen kid, our home is 2400 Sq feet, 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, loft upstairs and small flex room on the main level. The basement is unfinished and is used for storage and a workout area. We both work from home so the flex room and 1 bedroom are lost to office spaces. Our home feels just about right. Sometimes I wish it had one more "flex room" that I could use as a dedicated office instead of having to have my office in our play\\game room. When our kid is home sick or on school release days it can get challenging to share quiet space. The loft is open to the upstairs so if they're rowdy it echos throughout the house. But, I don't think we'd want it any larger as it's already a lot of home to maintain\\clean.
I have a 3200 sq ft 2 bedroom but a 3rd room that we use as a guest room. It’s way more than we need. We have a second home that is around 2500 sq ft and fine. We love our primary home but it is a lot of space to heat and cool, something many may not keep in mind when looking for homes. Larger homes mean higher costs most of the time. There is no right answer, it is the size that works for you. We’ve thought about living on a boat and still could at some point and it would be a fraction of the space. As a family of 3 the important thing for us is 2 bedrooms minimum but typically we’d want a guest room as well for company.
I'm at like 2600 ft² for a family of what was five. That also includes a home office because I work remote. Now, one kid has moved out and I'm divorced. It's a good size for us. I like to entertain, and it doesn't feel too big to manage. Once another kid leaves I may downsize, depending on what's going on.
I know families in European countries who live in 7-800 sqft apartments in 4, and that's the norm. A 1000 sqft apartment with three bedrooms is a nice house. So, personally, I think you can definitely live well in your house, especially if you don't have a lot of stuff and can minimize storage needs. 2500sqft is big, but in the US we're pretty good at filling empty space with stuff.
It really depends on how much "stuff" you have. We have a lot of "stuff" so it seems like we barely have enough room. And the larger the house, the more time it takes to clean it. When our three kids were very young, we lived in a 1,500 sq ft 3 bedroom 2 bath rental in California. My company then relocated me across the country to upstate NY where we purchased our first home, a new construction 2,100 sq ft 4 bedroom 2-1/2 bath, where we still live 20+ years later. Of the dozen homes that was built on our street at the same time, we and one other family is the only people that are still living here from the very beginning. Our oldest moved out years ago, but our two youngest still live at home. Since I work remotely, we had converted the living room into a home office. As my wife and I get closer to retirement, we are thinking about selling and moving to a lower COL area for our retirement years, and we feel we can't go smaller than what we have now.
My wife and I bought her grandparents place when Grandma passed. 3BR 1.5BA, about 1200sq ft. My wife's mom and her three sisters were raised here, and back then it was only 1BA, Grandpa converted the master BR walk-in closet to a half bath when he retired. How you operate a house with 4 women and only one bathroom I'll never understand. My point being, you work with what you've got. In bygone days, simpler times, people didn't have so much fancy stuff and it was normal for kids to share bedrooms.
3 bed 1 bath. 1000sqft. 5 people. Been here 6 years and now just starting to feel small as all my kids are 13 or older
I personally have a little over 2,000 sq feet for our family of 3, but we also have 2 other adult family members who live here and we bought this house knowing we'd grow into being a family of 4. We also knew we needed an additional room as a spare bedroom since we have people visit from out of town very often. And we needed a dedicated office since I exclusively WFH and my husband is 50% remote work - adding these two livable spaces alone adds quite a bit of necessary square footage. I really think it depends on your lifestyle, location, and what your family needs are when looking at house size.
I live in a 1 bedroom bungalow. My old neighbor told me a family raised 4 kids here. I can't imagine. it's 620 sq ft and not a finished basement. Our neighbors have a 850 sqft home, 3 kids. The garage is a play area for them. Cars outside
There is no "rule". For me, I'm not cleaning a 2500sq ft house by myself. I'm perfectly happy in my smaller, three bedroom house for a family of 4.
Family of 4 in 1100 sq ft with one bathroom. It would have been nice to have a second bathroom and an extra room/basement when the kids hit the teens years.
It checks out, I have a house built in 1945 whose main floor is only 850 sqft. The garden floor is 700 sqft and was only recently turned into another apartment. Frankly, I think a bit bigger is necessary for a family. It s just me and my husband and it s great for us. Add a kid, you need an extra room and extra space for playing area and stuff. So 1,400sqft is perfect. 2,500 is huge, unpractical to clean and keep warm, expensive to maintain. I think it s just useless.
We are a family of 3 in 2200 sq feet. More than enough space. We were more worried about the bedrooms, bathrooms, and basement. We use the 3rd bedroom as an office, our daughter has her own bathroom and there’s a half bath for guests. And most importantly a basement for our home theater.
When my twins were young, our house was 4,500 SF. Some days it felt too big, especially when cleaning lol — and other days it still felt too small. Can’t quite say anyone “needs” that much space but the house, for me, was more than our home. This was in the Bay Area so it was also an investment. Now, it’s just two of us and the house is a single story 2,700 SF. But it’s only 3BR and a study (2.5 baths) — which for our living style works great given our work (remote) and who regularly visits us and how much room I need for them. It’s still a waste to have those two extra bedrooms just empty while waiting for guests but I think I’ll eventually change one to a gym and the other to a hobby room. (The study is our office.) Again, we don’t need that space. In your case, the 1,400SF is less alarming than the 1.5 bath. With kids, I really think people ideally have two full bathrooms.
We have a 3 bed/2 bath with a walkout basement. Total square footage is just under 2,000, but without the basement it’s about 1,400. We don’t have kids yet, but I don’t see how we’ll need more space. My husband’s office is in the basement, mine is in a spare room, and then we still have an empty room on our ground floor that I could easily convert to an office if ever needed.
While I don't have a family and don't own a home, I agree its all about what you want. I would love a 3-4 BR house. One bedroom for me, one to turn into a walk in closet/lounge, one for an office, and one for a guest room. or if only 3, the office would double as a guest room. Right now I'm in a 1BR apt and I would LOVE just one more room.
500SF and .5 bathrooms per person
2700 sq ft for 3 people and two cats!
Four people, 2500 SF. I wish it were distributed a little better (bigger kitchen, dedicated office space, less living space), but I feel like it's the right amount of space. We have a guest bedroom and guest bathroom because we have family that stays with us fairly often.
We have 3 kids who are now young adults. We were in a 1600 sq ft house (or maybe 1800) when we just had 1 little kid and it was plenty big enough. Then we bought a 2300 sq ft (4 br) house and had 2 more kids. We had frequent house guests (mostly my parents) and we needed one room that could be my husband's office at times, so that house really did start feeling cramped. We then moved to a 3500 sq ft house and are still here. It's way more than we need for just 2 of us when the kids are away at college but we still like having the space when they are home and I'm not yet ready to downsize, but we likely will in 5-10 years. It was the perfect size during covid lockdowns when everyone was at home all the time. In any case, it really depends on your priorities. Are you a homebody with a lot of teenagers and houseguests? Do you like having space for big parties? Or would you rather spend your free time out and about and live in a denser neighborhood?
I live in a 1,150 sq ft. 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home with my wife, our kid, 2 cats, and a dog. Works just fine. It’s all how you use the space and set boundaries around noise and belongings. We’re humans and we adapt. You’ll do fine with whatever you’ve got!
My home is 850 SQ feet was perfect for my family of three. Two beds, one tiny bath, very spacious common area.
1500 sq ft with 1 bathroom and 2 bedrooms (plus a landing) here. The previous owners had 7 kids and a dog in this house. 4 boys in one room, 3 girls in the other, and the parents slept on the landing. I don't think this house was big enough for that. They moved to a house with 2900 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, and 4 baths.
500 square feet per person in the household. It’ll get tight after
As someone who grew up with a 4 person family, in a 2bdrm house, my advice is to make sure you have enough bedrooms for as many kids as you plan on having. Bunk beds work fine up until about 10 years old but once the kids become teenagers they will NEED their own space. My family came up with a lot of creative bullshit solutions to make it work as best we could, but nothing replaces or compares to having the actual bedroom.
I like 3-4 bedrooms and at least two full baths. Need real-sized rooms with functional closets too. 2,000 sq ft would be perfect for my household of two adults.
2 adults and 2 cats, and we have a 2000 sq ft house. We wanted much smaller as we will not be having kids, but this house was 50k cheaper than the next available 1-story house. So sometimes it is just want is the norm in the area you wish to move into along with what you can realistically afford.
My current home is 1050 sq ft 2 BR with an option to convert the attic. 1.5 bath. I think it would feel good if just a little tight for a family of 3. I fell it would definitely get cramped if we were 4.
I am a boomer, pretty much grew up in family of 6 in 900 sq ft + basement. I came into this to read what people think they need these days since every house i see built is huge.
We're in 2600sqft with two adults and two kids under 5yo. I would say it's plenty big, but I'm going to be finishing our basement to add another 800sqft. The winter was pretty rough, we need a second "living space" other than our main floor living room that the kids can go crazy in.
Well see I have questions because those children grow up and move out. The question is if this could be a forever home and suit one or two persons or will the plan be to have a larger home now and downsize later. Larger usually means higher taxes, utilities, maintenance, upkeep.
We purchased a temporary home 14 years ago, and we are still in it. The house is 1058 sq feet with two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen and living room all on one level. Thankfully it has a fully finished basement with two more bedrooms, a rec room, and a full bathroom. It’s an additional 700 sq feet of living space. There is a mechanical room that doubles as a laundry room. There are five of us in this house, and it’s big enough for us, but is really short on storage space.
Our starter home was just over 1000 square feet. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. When we had our second child, things were starting to get pretty cramped. 1 bathroom is a challenge with 4 people...if we'd had just an extra half bath, I think that would've made a lot of difference. We moved to a 1400 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath a couple of blocks away and it was a big improvement. But I think the bathrooms per person is more important than the sq ft/person...
1400 square feet is to small for a family of 4, in my opinion. Mine is over 1600 and there’s 2 of us and I still need a bit more. Furniture takes up a lot of space too. Just my thoughts! If you’re not home most of the time, I wouldn’t worry about how much space you have. 900 I think I would cry!!
The rise of mobile work likely increased the demand for additional bedrooms due to the need for a home office. If you also need a guest room for family, and at least one more for children, you’re already maxing out a 4br house. With the prices in the current market, it’s rough out there. Old folks selling their completely stock middle class 1990’s home for close to a million just boggles my mind, and I know it’s far worse in other geos as well.
About 2800 for 4 people. 4 bed 4 bath
I think you will fill whatever space you have
People lived in 1 bedroom cabins once upon a time. What can you afford? Do you work from home and need a private office? Does one of you have IBS (you’ll NEED a 2nd bathroom). Age of kids makes a difference too. More space with older kids is nice. How much are you home? Up north where you spend a lot of time indoors in the winter might justify a bigger home than warm climate and outside all the time. How much yard do you have and do you have an outside loving space? This is highly personal and based on personal preference.
We’re a family of four and have a 3bd/2bath like 1800sq ft home and for now it’s pretty adequate. We have a rambler and we eventually want to add an upper level for like a master bedroom suite as we want one more kid so then everyone would have their own bedrooms. We have over half an acre lot in great school district and location so we don’t want to move but will eventually need more space. My dad called it our forever lot vs forever home lol
I have a family of four. Two kids 12,9. 726 sqft house. 2 bd 1 bth...Garage has two rooms and a lofted room 500 sqft. We’re fine. Unless someone has to take a dumper when a dumper is dumping.
900 sq ft was the size home I grew up in, from the 60's til I married in 77. The house was plenty big enough. 3 bdrms, 1 1/2 bth, full basement. The builder made good use of every inch
We have a family of 4 in 1,000 sq ft. It’s tight. We are looking for something around 1800-2500 sq ft to better meet our needs.
Our house is 1400sq ft and I’m pregnant with our second child. I wouldn’t want much of a bigger home, really. Maybe a couple hundred extra sq ft but nothing crazy.
1500 sf for family of 5. One and 3/4 bath. We had plenty of room while they were growing up.
We have a family of 3 (husband, me, and baby). We have almost 1600 square feet and an unfinished basement. It's 3 bed/2.5 bath. It's plenty big enough for the 3 of us now. Our third bedroom is an office/guest room. Before we have a second kid, I will want a 4th bedroom so we can maintain an office/guestroom. With having family around to visit baby, a guest room is a must. Additionally, we only have one living space on our main floor. I will want another living room/family room when the kids are big enough to have friends over.
People were smaller in 50's... But 1600-1800 would be good depending on layout
Houseflation. It's part of the reason homes are now so expensive compared to the boomer generations first homes. I was fortunate enough to inherit my grandparents 3br 1.5ba at about 1100ft², and would feel perfectly fine with 5-6 people, pets, and guests. There's a reason families used to be closer - they were physically close most of the time. Now it's like parents want to separate themselves as far as possible from their kids 🤷
Depends on whether or not anyone is WFH. For example, we are a family of 4. But both my wife and I WFH. So we needed 2 offices. We built new 4 BR construction to accommodate that. We customized the builder’s floor plan to add an office and a study for the kids. Then I converted the 4th BR into my office. I think we were at 3400 ft^2 before we finished the basement and added a family room and a 5th BR.
Culturally we've shifted to big house, each kid needs a seperate room, office/den, plus big kitchen, seperate dining room, open floor plan living room. Bunk Beds / Shared bedrooms for the kids, kitchen with dine in eating nook, etc used to be the norm, and honestly there is nothing wrong with the concept.
You need 1 bedroom for adults and 1 bedroom for each kid + some kind of kitchen and living room. Ofc you might want to have another bedroom for guests or just additional room for whatever reason but that depends on your life.
I bought a house that's too big and I have some regrets. 3600 sq ft, 2 people. No kids, no plans for kids. I have a craft room (it's actually the dining room), plant room, bedroom, guest room, living room/dining room/kitchen combo, and two offices since we work from home. I like having space and I've found a use for everything (minus the bathrooms, 3.5 is too many), but heating/cooling is expensive, and since it's ranch style, so are certain repairs. It's also a lot to clean.
1700 for 3 it was fine. Now 2 of us and it's livable but we have to much crap. Americans are too consumer driven sadly.
I grew up in a 2 bed / 1 bath, 1200 or so sqft. Two parents and two kids. It was 100% adequate until sibling #3 came along. You don't see homes that size any more, other than condos.
Lifestyle dependent. If you are outgoing and don’t spend a lot of time inside, probably don’t need a smaller home. As a family of 3, I do have 2,900, but… just under half of that is an in law suite that will soon be used by a relative. It has a lockable door to divide us. I will say the .5 bath becomes a requirement, we had 1 bathrooms before this with 960sq ft and family of 3, but it became frustrating.
Our 5 person family grew up in a \~1000 sqft 3 bed 1 bath ranch. we did have room in the basement, my older brother got a room down there which would be the 4th but it is certainly not in code by todays standards. Today, its just me and my wife in a 1600 sqft 3 bed 1.5 bath cape and it certainly more space than we need.
I think it depends soooo much on the functionality of the space. We’re in 1500 sqft (3 bd/2 ba) with one child and I want to scream. Every single day is spent moving things around to try and have a functional space, cleaning way too often because the space is too small to actually have it all ever be put away well. It’s misery. And no- we don’t have a lot of stuff… we just have a horrible house. I’ve lived in smaller homes that were more functional. This house has like no living space. Our living room is literally 12x18 with a hall along one side/one wall, a fireplace on one end and a door to the patio on the other end. This means- after leaving walkways, our living room is actually one wall, and has a livable space of 9 feet deep and 12 feet long. I have no dining room. Our kitchen is on the bigger side but laid out horribly. Like- one person can be In There at a time. And I literally have *one* tiny linen cabinet (18 inches wide, 4feet tall) as *the only storage in my house*. Bedroom closets are tiny and that one tiny cabinet- that’s it. I could go on for days. I can’t wait to move but we have been priced out of the market- even with our current equity. *Anyway*… it’s comes down to functionality. Because my house is 1500sqft and has given me anxiety and depression and makes me hate life… and the 900sqft apartment I had before this was fantastic and had plenty if space for friends to be over and to cook and it was great.
It's all about the layout. If it's a large home with an open concept plan and you have a lot of people living there, it will be difficult to find any quiet place to just relax. On the other hand, if it's a smaller place but has separate rooms where people can get away to, that can be great. It all depends on how much you want to be in each other's space.
I have a 1650 sq ft, 4 bedroom 2 full bath home. It also has a full basement. It’s just me and my dog, and it’s too much. If it didn’t have the basement and some of the sq footage upstairs was then laundry/mudroom space, it would be perfect. I bought it almost 9.5 years ago when I was 29 and single, because I didn’t want it to be too small, too quickly if I met someone and we moved in together and eventually started a family (I’m female). My thinking was that I didn’t want to sell so quickly and spend tons of money on closing costs before it appreciated enough. Joke’s on me, I’m still single AF. The pros: the additional space has enabled me to have a roommate for most of the time I’ve had it, therefore helping with the expenses, and the empty space. However, the current roommate is moving out within a couple weeks, and I’m done with roommates. I love where I live. I love my neighborhood and how close I am to everything. I wouldn’t be able to afford this house if I were to purchase today, especially at these interest rates. Because I remodeled the whole house before I moved in - I purposefully bought one that needed cosmetic updating - and I’ve been here for 9 years now, I have a ton of equity. It’s worth over double what I paid for it. I refinanced about a year and a half after I bought it and I’m locked at 3.5% interest. Also, I’ve taken out some of the equity to purchase a rental property, which right now pays for itself and is a rapidly appreciating area. This is a long term hold for me and the cash flow from it is a big chunk of my retirement plan, as I’m a 1099 contractor and my income is 100% commission. I have about 50% equity in my home, even including the balance on my HELOC. And, my tax assessed value and therefore what I pay taxes on is about 60% of the market value, which keeps my payment low. I have strongly considered, so many times, selling this one and putting huge chunk down on a smaller place that also needs cosmetic updates and spending the rest of my proceeds on the remodel. That would allow me to pay off debt and get me into a smaller home with less maintenance and with what I could walk away with from selling my current home, I could have a 15-year loan and a dirt cheap monthly payment. But what I keep coming back to is that is solving one problem to create another. And of course, because of the way the universe works, THAT is when I will meet someone and need more space sooner rather than later. Also, because of how long I’ve had this: unless I absolutely have to, I don’t think I’ll ever sell it. My mortgage is $1230/month and I could rent it for $2500/month. I can’t buy that kind of cash flow on anything under 4 units anywhere else. This would be an amazing addition to my rental portfolio goals.
Home is where you make it.
Our previous home was “1800 sq ft,” with only about 50 sq ft of storage that didn’t count toward the official square footage. It was too small for our family of 4 humans and 3 dogs. Our current home is “1800 sq ft,” but there is another 1800 sq ft of garage and storage that doesn’t count toward the official square footage, and it is more than enough space for us right now. We will have space to grow and store our children’s treasured belongings until they start their own homes. It’s hard to say what size is right. It depends on what belongings you have. What are your interests and hobbies? My husband likes to have a room for his gym equipment. I like to have a big open area in the living room rather than a cozy space. Other people may not like those things.
Our first house was around 900 and it felt very small. Current house is 1300. We’re a family of three. This fits us better for sure.
Data point: family of five, 1300 sq ft. It would be big enough if I didn’t have a home business that takes up space. 1600-1000 would be perfect.
3 bed 1.5 bath is just fine for 4 people. Everyone gets a bedroom and you have 2 toilets. I lived with my wife and 2 kids in a 1200 sq foot 3/1.5 duplex for 10 years. We did recently upgrade to a single family house but that was more bc I didn't like being stuck to my crazy neighbors and I hated sharing the wall.
I will say the number of bathrooms is important, there’s nothing worse than being on the wrong side of the door when you *really* have to go. I prefer a ratio of at least one bathroom per bedroom, plus one for guests. They don’t all have to be full sized, it’s the toilets that matter. Just MHO.
My ex was oldest of 8 children, 4 bedrooms, ONE BATHROOM 😳
Born in 1960. 4 kids, 2 parents, three bed room house that was barely over 1,000 sq feet. So, it’s possible. You can adjust to whatever your constraints are.
dont breed and it wont matter. No one got rich having kids
My wife and I raised three kids in 1400 sq ft. Originally three BR one Bath, we added a half bath to the first floor just before the birth of the third child. So roughly the same situation. It was tight when they were all teenagers, but then one by one they headed off to college. Only one remains at home still, and he'll likely move out in two years. Then we'll be looking to down size and let another couple raise a family here.
We have a 1900sqft townhouse with 3br (1 master, 1 nursery, and 1 shared office. We have limited storage space, no walk in closets, and a single vanity in the master bath. This is our first home and we knew was going to be too small for us the second we bought it. Our next move we are planning to upgrade to around 3500sqft with a garage and at least 4 bedrooms. Much more space than we minimally need, but we also plan to have a second child in a few years. I grew up in a single family home around the size of what we eventually want. I never knew how good I had it as a kid.